slintegra

ive got white smoke and something leaking out of my exhaust pipe, someone told me that my head gaskets blown and it would be about 500 dollars to get it fixed because the head would need to be shaved down since its warped or something.... is this normally the price im looking at to get it fixed.. am i getting a good deal or am i getting screwed. somebody help because im not really all too sure about all of this since its never happened to me before.

Edit: it's not overheating either..... but it smells like something's burning. it had the smoke one day... the next day it wasnt smoking at all... now all of a sudden it is again

ddd4114

If you're blowing out white smoke, you more than likely have a blown head gasket.

I would try the following:

1) Compression test: if you have uneven compression, the pistons might be trying to compress coolant, which is not going to happen. When I blew my head gasket, my compression test results were all over the place, ranging from 160 psi to 260 psi. Once I did the repair and everything was back to normal, I got 215 psi accross the board. Keep in mind that (a) uneven compression does not immediately mean that you have a blown head gasket, and (b) there are a lot of factors that affect static compression ratio, such as mechanical timing and carbon buildup, so there is no magical number you should shoot for.

2) Leakdown test: This is probably the most effective test you can do, but you'll need an air compressor and a leakdown guage. This way, you can pinpoint exactly where the leak is (if any). If you don't have access to a compressor or a leakdown guage, then this method is out.

3) The cheap way: Pull your ECU fuse and have a friend crank the engine over. If you see bubbling in the coolant reservior, the head gasket is definitely gone and must be replaced.


In any case, I strongly suggest that you drive the car as little as possible, because if it is the head gasket, it will only get worse. $500 at a shop sounds like a reasonable offer, but you can do it yourself for under $100 in a couple hours at most.

Civic2Scooby

leakdown test FTW

A-series

Lot of people mistake the bluish white smoke of oil for just white, pure white, from coolant.

Not unusual for a small amount of fluid (water) to run out of the exhaust at times. It may be black from all the carbon crap that builds up in there (especially if your car burns oil, or used to in the past)

Good advice not to drive it more than absolutely necessary if you think it's the head gasket, but if it was in fact the headgasket, and it's been smoking like that for a while, you should have either noticed a change in your coolant level or the coolant could be very dark from oil entering into the coolant. Possibly both.

m735is

Don't mistake cooler outside temps for blown headgasket. Of course not seeing how much smoke is coming out and when it does it makes a difference. If it does it no matter how long you drive the car, not just during warn up, then yes you may have a blown gasket.

Are you loosing any coolant?
Is your over flow bottle emptying or over filling?
Are your hoses REALLY hard? Over pressurized?
Take off your oil cap. Is it coated with tan cream (oil and coolant mileshake)?
Pull out your dipstick, are there any water droplets on it or is the oil higher than normal?

slintegra

ill check the oil cap and what not tomorrow durin the day but it has coolant in it and nothings leaking besides a little out of the exhaust pipe

ddd4114

Is it coolant or just water?

slintegra

water

ddd4114

As stated, a little water out the tailpipe is normal.

How often do you see the white smoke, and how much of it is there when you do see it?

94jdmcivic

When my head gasket was blown, i had huge clouds of white smoke comng out and it sounded like the car was missing, the oil was a milky color. 500 dollars isnt bad. I got mine done for 300. I called a lot of shops to see how much they would charge for parts and labor and they said around 800-1000 just for labor. So i just sent it over to a buddy to fix it for me.