White smoke when Downshifting?

[HostileJava]

Ok this is kinda wierd and it's the first time it happened to me. But I was taking some turns on the highway with the beater and up/downshifting through them. When I came up on the last turn and I went from 5th to 4th a large cloud of white smoke(and i mean large enough to cause the people behind me to stop cause they couldn't see) came out of the back of the car and the engine started running a little rough, then it picked up again and the smoke stopped. That's the first time that's really happened. When I opened up the hood at work there was what appears to be coolant laying on the left side of the engine and on the transmission. It doesn't appear to be leaking from anywhere though. There are no marks where I parked and the radiator is full. Any ideas? It sure would be nice to be able to control this so I can blind people who are tailgating me, but seriously if anyone has any suggestion's it would be much appreciated.

[SteveDX89]

Blown head gasket.

[HostileJava]

I was afraid someone was going to say that.

[nswst8]

Cream colored oil
Oil in the coolant (radiator)
Water/Steam coming out the tailpipe
Compression check
leak down check

I would look to your coolant lines for sins of leaking. The smaller lines.
Good luck

[Vanilla Sky]

... same thing wrong with mine... a blown headgasket...

[thegreatdane]

Oh, it's nothing to worry about.

(thats what you wanted to hear, right )

[shyne_aiden]

Unfortuneatley i jus came across the same prob with the beater i jus bought, HEAD GASKET!!! what a pain this is gonna be to replace on my own.

[HostileJava]

Oh, it's nothing to worry about.

(thats what you wanted to hear, right )

Well I know it's not nothing, but I was hoping someone would say it's probably a leaky hose.

[maka_RTH]

look at it this way.., at least you don't have to drop the tranny, or pull the engine...

[HostileJava]

look at it this way.., at least you don't have to drop the tranny, or pull the engine...

Yeah, I've already got one car in peices though. I wonder how hard this is to do.

[maka_RTH]

I wonder how hard this is to do.

the head gasket? i don't think it'd be too bad. i was gonna do it on my friends dx until we figured out it wasn't the headgasket that was bad. i was just gonna unbolt the intake and exhaust manifolds, and make just enough room to pull the head out so i could clean the surfaces, then bolt everything back up. as the timing belt, i was just gonna leave it zip-tied to the cam gear and keep tension on the camgear so i wouldn't have to mess with taking of the crank pulley and whatnot...

[SteveDX89]

the head gasket? i don't think it'd be too bad. i was gonna do it on my friends dx until we figured out it wasn't the headgasket that was bad. i was just gonna unbolt the intake and exhaust manifolds, and make just enough room to pull the head out so i could clean the surfaces, then bolt everything back up. as the timing belt, i was just gonna leave it zip-tied to the cam gear and keep tension on the camgear so i wouldn't have to mess with taking of the crank pulley and whatnot...

You can't get the belt off the crank without pulling the pulley. Looks like this will be a nasty little job due to all the vac lines, etc.

[HostileJava]

Thanx for your support steve. Hopefully I'll get it all sorted out by the end of this weekend.

[maka_RTH]

i wasn't saying take off the timing belt, i was saying keep tension on it so you don't have to, kinda like in the how-to for swapping camshafts. however, if the timing belt is coming all the way off then yes, i know the crank pulley and everything's gotta come off.

[shepherd79]

i changed my headgasket in less than 6 hours.
i didn't have to remove timing belt, because you can zip tie it to the timing gear and remove the gear.
you don't have to remove the intake or header (just disconnect the down pipe).
it is very easy.

[HostileJava]

Well it hasn't happened since then, I wonder what did cause it. I do want to get around to running a compression check on it, but It will have to wait till I have the time now since it seems to be running fine. My only thought is that there was water in the tank and the pump picked it up and pissed some of it into the carb. I dunno. I dumped some Isoheet in there and it seems to be running better.

[maka_RTH]

just cuz it hasn't happened doesn't mean it couldn't still be the headgasket.., check the coolant and oil to make sure.

[HostileJava]

just cuz it hasn't happened doesn't mean it couldn't still be the headgasket.., check the coolant and oil to make sure.

I am aware of that, and forgot to mention I guess that I didn't find any mix of coolant and oil anywhere.

[Strugglebucket]

hey, if it's a true beater then as long as it runs you're fine.

['A20A3']

Strugglebucket has a point.

My headgasket is about to go as well...those of us in this thread should start a blown headgasket club.

[86LXItooFAST4me]

do a compression test