Help engine is pushing out smoke!!!

[kevins89lxi]

The car is pushing out smoke from the exhaust and I need help and ideas of what it could be? the smoke is whitish. I think it is oil and the that mean that the rings are done and that I need to put new rings in or what else could it be? Thanks
Kevin

[stizle]

no, if it where blue thenit would be oil. White smoke that could quite possiblly be the head gasket. Mostly when it is white smoke it is a coolant leak into the combustion chamber. like i said check the head gasket.

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Originally posted by stizle
no, if it where blue thenit would be oil. White smoke that could quite possiblly be the head gasket. Mostly when it is white smoke it is a coolant leak into the combustion chamber. like i said check the head gasket.

white smoke = coolant
blue smoke = oil
black smoke = too much fuel

Sounds like headgasket time! Run a compression test and see if one or more cylinders have lower than normal compression (179 psi is normal, and no more than 28 psi variation between cylinders). Also check your oil to see if it looks light brown, like chocolate milk. If so, headgasket is gone, and don't drive it cuz the engine will seize.

[kevins89lxi]

how hard is it to change the head gasket? I think the car over headed and the gasket went? any tips I am willing to listen.

[RustyHo88]

if you dont know how hard it is to change a head gasket, then you should probably have someone else do it. it requires taking the head off the engine, which requires taking off all the belts, setting the engine to tdc, ect ect blah blah blah.... i have never done it, and i dont want to. i have heard of additives you can add to your coolant and / or your oil that might fix the problem... but i have only seen ad's for for stuff like that, ive never heard anyone ever say it worked or not. depending on your mileage, if you are going to remove the head, you might want to rebuild the whole engine, or get a new one. blowing a head gasket is one of those things that causes huge problems if you dont recodnize the problem and fix it right away.