Please god tell me i didnt blow my headgaskets.....i need to know asap...

RedBirdSC

Registered User
My car showed no symptoms till now.

I leave school and pic up my brother and about 800feet from my house at a stop sign my car starts to idle ruff, temp is a little higher than normal and lots of white smoke. I get home and i check the coolant and oil*oil i checked on the dipstick and coolant in the radiator, it felt cold? and then I opened the oil fill cap and smoke came out of it?* they both looked fine. It's not sweet smelling, smells sort of like elmers glue kind of. Please tell me its not my head gaskets i cant afford to have a shop fix them and I'm scared to get that indepth in my car:mad:
 
I forgot to say, there was a hissing aroudn the water pump, like a lot of air coming out under pressure. I recently had a new thermostat, waterpump, radiator and some other stuff done to my car at a shop. Could that be it? somethign related to it? Also it looked like my valve covers were smoking a lil.
 
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My car hisses like its releasing pressure when I turn it off, I wouldnt see why it wouldn't be because it is compressing all the air and when you turn the car off it releases. But i'm no expert haha
 
Ok, but mines never done that before. Also oil and coolant looked fine, thier only like 4 months/900 miles aold along with the water pump, theremostat, radiator, hoses and belts. I was sitting there and all the sudden it starst idleing ruff and lots of white smoke, didnt feel like it lost any power.
 
i didnt think either of those could cause the car to breathe white smoke. Could they? I coudl go switch mafs off my 5spd onto my auto and try that in a min....i dont know how to do the iac though.
 
Well how much white smoke? I mean some is normal just condesation of water and whatever... If it was blowing out a smoke show then I have no clue, the MAF can affect fuel mixture and all that, IAC is the idle, I think thats the problem with my car, because yesturday out of 10+ starts, one start the idle dropped and went up and dropped and went up but no vibration or nothing bad, I figure it got stuck closed or something because it corrects itself after a rev, and it didn't do anything today.
 
The smoke only formed when i came to a stop in my driveway. It was more then condensation smoke......more like ummmm um to my door and about the same with and out 3 feet.

Also my dad just got hoem and made me fire it up for him, it was cranking very very very hard.... it took it 2-3 tries and about 20 secs on the last try to fire. then it sputtered and died after about 30 seconds and fired right back up.
 
any bubbles in your coolant? keep a gpd eye on your oil, somtimes it take s a few min. to miz water with oil if they are blown.

also, when it was idleing rough, when u got into boost did it seem to clear up a bit?
 
No bubbles in the coolant, looks brand new still. Oil i checked multiple times, no bubbles, no brownish color lookes like oil should after 900 miles. Als the second i got above idle it cleared up and when it was in boost*about 3-6 psi-2000rpms* it ran like a champ, like it always does other than now.
 
when mine blew... it ran like *** out of boost, then when it went into boost if felt normal. smell your coolant and see if it smells like oil. keep an eye on it.
 
My coolant smells like coolant and looks brand new too. Today after school I'm gong to try draning the oil and the coolant and chekin it. If it is something major like head gaskets my parents are going to make mepart my car out, cause i dont have the money, know how, or space to do headgaskets. Justin:(


A teacher of mine just gave me this idea...Could water in my gas cause the problems i'm having? my car sat for a week, with 1/8th a tank of gas in 20-70 deg weather. Could that cause my problem?
 
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Sounds like a head gasket to me. Its not hard to fix yourself. Why part out a perfectly good car? You'd be better selling it for like $1200 to someone who wants to fix it. Unless its a ****** rust bucked or dented all up, headgaskets is a terrible reason to part out a perfectly good SC. These cars are already rare enough.

Seriously if you have tools and can follow instructions, you could have your head gaskets replaced in a few days, probably over the course of a weekend if you have the gasket set and know a machine shop that is open on the weekends.

If you were closer I'd come over and help you out, but I'm in Michigan.

Also, blowing head gaskets is a good excuse to get a new cam and big valve ported heads, and headers, roller rockers, and upgrade anything else that has to be removed. But if your on a budget, get the heads milled and gasket matched.
 
to check for a blown HG, try this......

1) while car is cold, remove the Rad Cap.
2) start car and wait for it to reach operating temp\
3) if you see your coolant flowing through the rad, then you should be fine......if, however, it begins foaming over the top, prepare to replace your head gaskets.
 
i would have to do the head gaskets out in my driveway in freezing weather right now if i did it. i convinced my parents to loan me the money but i have to pay them another 200 on topof what i borrow. Also I'm not keeping either of my sc's after this. I'm only 17 and i cant afford for my car to break down every few months and cost a 1,000 plus each time to fix it. i dont want to part out my sc, thats what my mom wanted me to do cause I have nearly 7k in it not including the price of the car and i've owned just over a year. My auto Sc is totaly mint except for this and my 5spd sc is mint other than high miles*but i think it was rebuilt at sometime, the short block is wayyyyyy too clean* and like 4 small dings. i coudlnt sell the car for 1200 if i wanted to which i dont, i have that in stereo in the car. Too bad you cant come here and help me, looks like my car is back at the mercy of a shop.Thanks for everyones help, Justin
 
Maybe if you took off the supercharger and intercooler pipes, they could/ would charge you less... just kinda thought of that.

keep the cars :D
 
I might try that, but i think i might give it a go myself....I dont know I'm sacared of messin something up.

I was going to keep my 5spd,i dont know why but auto cars are so boring to me now, i love my auto but its boring to i let the petal drop and boost go up lol. But thats prob what killed my gaskets, i didnt drive it hard except for every now and then, it's prob cause its stock gaskets with a 10% pully...But now i have to sell my 5spd and my auto to pay my parents back after i get it fixed, i love sc's they just cost so much to keep running right. So my sc's are gone after i fix this one. Well maybe i will hang onto my 5spd somehow but ya its doubtful

Justin
 
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Sup, I'm another 17 year old trying to keep my SC. Right now i'm fixing it up and just doing everything i can to it to get it working properly. I love SCs so much that i'm going to be getting a job for the mornings before school. If you love SCs as much as me, i say try to get a job. (I'm in dept with my parents 5k for car and tickets including racing) :)

I hope you decied to keep the 5 spd
 
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