Any help is appreciated

My bird started eating (and I mean eating) coolant a while back, and recently I noticed that the temperature gauge fluctuated quite a bit, going from NORM to cold in a matter of seconds. A couple days ago while driving, I noticed smoke coming out of the hood, and lots of white smoke coming out of the exaust pipes. The engine lost power. The smoke coming from the hood smelled like coolant.
My car has 170,000 miles on it, and the head gaskets have never been changed. I suspect that I just blew a head gasket, but I am worried that I might have cracked the block or the head. Is there any way to tell if this is the case before I open it up, because I don't want to have to replace the entire engine.

again, any help is appreciated
thanks
Drago

check your oil. If it is milky then more than likely your HG is blown or look in your radiator, take the cap off when cold and see if oil is in there.

Head Gaskets are cooooked!

that sucks bad. have fun fixing it I shouldnt talk cause im still on my 1st that could be me one day

sounds like head gaskets

remember head bolts have to be replaced too. I got all gaskets and bolts for $143 at http://www.expressautoparts.com/

yes, it is probably the head gasket but first check to make sure that your oil pump is intact. It has coolant lines running through it, as well as enternal seals that can go, mixing coolant and oil, making many similar signs of head gasket monster. Also, pressure check cylinders, if one, two or more are unusually low, it is head/block related.

(my bet would be on head gaskets, though)

Definitely the headgaskets, mine was doing the same thing when I first bought it. As I poured the water into the radiator it was being spewed out the exsaust. Good luck with it.

WOW---- almost 10 years ago---Gotta watch those "post" dates....

Lol! That's about 1000 pages of posts!