White Exhaust Smoke

Hello again, I recently had a problem with my car jerking slightly on highway, and I think I've resolved this by replacing the spark plugs. It does still do it, but maybe only one or two jerks per 100 miles. It used to be one or two jerks every 30 seconds. So I think I've found at least part of the source of the jerk. I could possibly purchase new spark plug caps (wires) and hopefully that would put that problem to rest.

Unfortunately, I'm a student and poor.

Dodge Intrepid ES
3.2L V6
126,000 Miles

So my car has white smoke coming from the exhaust. On start up, on warm up, on hot idle, and on cold idle. The coolant in the reservoir is quite skanky looking and I've been meaning to flush it but haven't gotten around to it. But I've done quite a lot of research lately and also just have my own personal experience (employed as a mechanic at a small engines shop for quite some time.) and I've found the most common answer would be a head gasket problem, or even more serious, a cracked block, causing coolant in small amounts to leak into the cylinders. I figured that would be the answer I would find but I like to do some research before I go prodding at my car.

I've always been an oldsmobile/Buick kinda guy. I've never had a dodge product nor worked on one. Don't get me wrong, this car is beautiful and has a lot of power compared to your average LeSabre, but I fear the worst when it comes to driving a dodge product. My dad says they're as disposable as Bic liters!

So does anyone have any experience with a head gasket problem? I myself have never had any gasket problems in any of my cars, and don't really know what it feels like when driving, or what it sounds like, or looks like.

The exhaust is white, not grey, not blue, not black. A nice pure white color, and obviously comes out thicker and in larger amounts when you give it some gas. Also it smells sweet. Another clue it could be coolant.

Another thing that made me worry was when I replaced the old spark plugs, they looked like they were being run in a really lean engine. Barely any carbon tracks on them, almost clean looking. Which worries me. It could be suggesting that I COULD be burning water (coolant) in my engine. The coolant level in the reservoir does go down but at a pretty small amount.

Anything else I should be looking out for? Could this suspected head gasket problem be one of the factors causing the misfire (engine jerk)? Is white smoke normal for these cars?

Sorry for writing a book. I like to be specific and tell you every detail, not like some guys that barely tell you anything, that just makes it harder to get answers. Thanks!

Contrakt

Best thing to do is a compression test on each cyl. If your losing coolant it sound like a head gasket failure starting. If you don't have money to fix. It may be worth getting a another vehicle. Good Luck.

I would say head gasket or cracked block also. The miss is most likely from the coolant in the cylinder. You will not know what it is untill you tear it apart and may find that it is a cracked block and all time is wasted. Start with a compression test but I can almost guarantee you it is one or the other.

Any issue overheating?