Hey everyone,

So did a oil change, and flushed the coolant and filled. (the radiator needs to be replaced regardless).

I did this after a couple of days after a white smoke coming from the exhaust (I thought I put too much oil in it). So I did a oil change and I also flushed the coolnt to get a bit more time out of the radiator. Did not allow car to over-heat and when it started, quickly filled or etc.


So drove around, been feeling a bit of loss of power and etc. parked the car, nothing on the floor, came back and there was a puddle (Was extremely dark). Started to drive home and noticed the slight over-heating. Also noticed the leak on the floor. (Looked like it was coming up top from the cat converter).

Stopped the car (did not smoke today or yesterday). Went outside to check the oil and decided to look at the dipstick. Looked clean, no milky or thick residue. Was definitely no more coolant in the resv. This doesn't explain the dark substance on the floor though. sludge?

Regardless, what am I looking at here, and in case a gasket, can a sealant work temporary? is it safe to drive 2-3 miles?

 

Head gasket sounds like whats the problem. I have heard of Blue Devil head gasket sealer. I heard that it works but you have to read and follow the directions to a T in order for it to work properly. THis is not only a quick fix. But they state that it can be a permanent fix as well. Though I would never trust something like that to last that long. It will last long enough to get you where you need to go

 

could be leaking transmission fluid.

 

Valve cover gasket?? Will leak onto one of the primary cats as well as the O2 sensor.. depending how big it is..will cause a "burning" smell and smoke as well when the oil hits the hot catalytic converter.

 

One way to tell if its a head gasket, is when the car is cold, feel your coolant hoses. they should be soft and no firmness as there is no pressure in the system. fire up your car, odds are after not long they will become hard.... also you can try leaving the rad cap off you may see some steam and smell "gases" coming out.

 

The best way to test for a head gasket is to have a Leakdown Test performed.

 

Alright so update.

Had stalled my car out the other day trying to fix it (actually going into reverse and stalled, smh), wasn't able to get it running, bought new battery and was now running better then ever. Drove around to verify that it wasn't going to start overheating etc. Experienced no issues, Did notice that the coolant was nearly gone. So, I refilled. (I did forget to leave the radiator cap off...)

About 10 miles in, car started to slowly rise in temp, turned on the heat, cooled down, about a mile away from work, Car started smoking heavy, and slowly started to rise in heat (the smoke started before the temp rise).

Once I actually did get close to work (Parked somewhere, had to walk the rest because the temp needle was getting close to the top). and that was it. Did notice some wet hoses in the back. With that being said, heat also didn't work at the end, it blew out cold air.

 

As others have mentioned, white smoke is water (either condensation that is stuck in the mufflers, or coolant due to head gasket), oil is blue.

You can get a head gasket tester that what you do is insert it to the coolant fill on the radiator. The tool is filled with a fluid that will change color if any exhaust gases are mixed in with your coolant. If after a few minutes the fluid changes color you know for sure that there is a mix of coolant/combustion gas due to a head gasket leak.

UVIEW 560000 is the model that I use on my cars.