If I have a blown headgasket will the car still run w/o symptoms?

[MyEarsHurt]

Okay, here is the thing...my driver side (and only driver side) exhaust has had some white smoke coming out of it for a while now, maybe a month. I dont know if it happens during acceleration, but I noticed it today when the car was at a stop. Then after I turned the car off, the smoke was still coming out (steady but not fast) of the exhaust for at least 2-3 minutes after the car was off? What does that mean? The car is running perfect, perfect idle, perfect acceleration, it seems to be the healthiest it has ever run. This is 6000 miles post PI headswap.

I was reading up on this white smoke, and it seems like it may be a bad headgasket on the one side, but I cant really tell for sure. I suppose I need to drain the oil and see if its milky. I guess my question is, can I drive it like this without damaging anything. Car never overheats or stutters or anything. So any help would be appreciated. Also, if it was a headgasket problem, what would my plugs look like? Maybe I will just pull those and find out some more information.

 

[BlueRuckus]

Personaly, I would suggest that you don't drive the car anymore than absolutly have to and get it fixed ASAP.

You could probably pull the oil dip stick out and see if it's milky. If it's been a while that your head gasket has gone out, then you should start to see your car overheat.

If I'm not mistaken, you can also warp the head. That'll mean having to mill the head to get it even and hopefully, it's not to bad where you have to replace the head.

 

[Mel96GT]

Yes, the cars will often run fine for a while. It may also be one of your injectors running too rich and the smoking is the fuel left in the exhaust pipe. However, do a compression test. Check your plugs for rust. Also pull off the radiator cap when the engine is cold and check the coolant for bubbles when the car is idling. Check the oil dipstick for water/coolant contamination and the water for oil contamination. Keep an eye on your coolant level to see if there is excess consumption. It may be some other sensor that is blown. If all else fails, take it to a shop and have them hook it up to a diagnostic machine/computer. Good luck.

 

[sgarlic]

It may also be one of your injectors running too rich and the smoking is the fuel left in the exhaust pipe.

White = coolant. Fuel would be black.

 

[300bhp/ton]

are you sure it's smoke???

White smoke would be almost unheard of on a non-tubro motor.

White smoke would usually indicate a worn turbo bearing.

Blue smoke would be oil (which you can normal smell too)

Black would be more fuel related.

Is it perhaphs steam.

This is a cruicial identifier, if it is steam then water must be getting into at least one combustion chamber, this could be a head gasket or a burst water jacket.

Is the car using water? If so then make sure the motor doesn't over heat.

Check the oil filler too, for mayonaise. This is not always present, but if it is then you almost certainly have a head gasket leak as the oil is becoming contaminated with water.

 

[Spreadman]

You could have a head gasket leak. My car overheated a couple of times and I noticed the smoke shortly after that. Is it worse just after starting the car? Did the car overheat at all or did it start doing this after the PI head install?

 

[haneymotorsport]

You might want to do a cooling system pressure test. If it won't hold pressure and you have no external leaks, i.e. hoses, clamps, radiator, etc, then it is problably bleeding through a blown head gasket.

 

[Mustanggt108]

I think someone already said this.If you wanna know if you have a busted head gasket , start the car let it idle and open the radiator cap (car should be cold), check for bubbles.If you cant see any than have someone accelerate just a tiny bit and keeping their foot on the gas for 5-10 seconds while you watch for bubbles.If you see any bubbles , then you have a bad head gasket.But regarding the white smoke, i cant tell you anything about that.just see what the guys here are saying about that.They will help you

 

[MyEarsHurt]

Thanks for the help guys, I am gonna try that trick and watch for bubbles and I am gonna pull the plugs to see what kind of condition they are in. I hope its not a headgasket, but if it is I guess I am not even that mad because it wasnt that hard to take apart and now I would have all the more reason to get LT's and a cam for my winter project while I replace the headgasket. I'll check and report back on what I find. But to the best of my knowledge, coolant level is normal and it never overheats, not before or after the headswap.

 

[Dragstr05]

My best guess is that yes your head gasket is blown between one of the water jackets and a cylinder. If you want to check for water in the oil, an easy way to check that my auto teacher from high school showed me is to pull the dipstick, and hold a lighter up to it. If it bubbles, there is water that is boiling. Even if there is water in the oil, it may not be enough to make it look milky.

 

[McJ]

Is it smoke or steam???? Steam dissapates really fast and smoke hangs around a while. If it's smoke you have an oil problem...

 

[MyEarsHurt]

Well, steamy smoke...hows that for a vague description. It doesnt linger long at all, and its not there on start up, only after a few minutes of idle. I pulled the plugs and they look pretty normal, also no bubbles in the coolant reservoir and coolant level is totally topped off...im fresh out of ideas here....i suppose I'll drain the oil and do the lighter to the dipstick thing as well...

 

[McJ]

Usually that's an indication of a gasket problem... The car warms up and the pressure in the water system builds up and it goes where it can... The cylinder. It comes out as steam. I'm wondering why it won't go out both exhausts because you have a cross over there...
I know I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so good luck...

 

[MyEarsHurt]

Upon closer examination, it is coming out of both exhaust pipes. Would the plugs be messed up if something was going on? Also, If I am not losing coolant, then how bad of a problem do i really have here? I mean, the end all be all indicator of this problem would be losing coolant from an unknown source correct? So, If I keep an eye on my coolant level for the next month and I notice it starts to go down then I know for sure...but otherwise it has to be something else.

 

[McJ]

I think that the plugs may be kind of clean but I'm not sure. When I was a kid we used to clean the carbon out of our engines by slowly dribbling a mixture of H2O and alcohol down the throat of the carb while revving the engine... That used to blow the carbon out like gang busters... But coolant, I'm not too sure what kind of deposit it would leave. Ethylene (sp) Glycol is "watersoluble oil" and probably if there was H2O in it it would clean the plugs if anything...

 

[McJ]

One more thing... If you wait too long that leak may get much worse and before you know it you'll have pieces of pistons in your crankcase. H2O does not compress so it's like running your engine with rocks in the combustion chamber. The reason you have only steam now is because the leak is small and when it warms up it starts leaking more... The H2O flashes off into steam and doesn't do any damage but when you start getting droplets in that combustion chamber you'll start doing damage...
Don't wait too long...