engine overheated

hi, my car overheated a couple days ago without me knowing, temp gauge was broken and thermostat didn't let the coolant circulate. it overheated and all of a sudden the engine died. i was like, wtf. so i started it back up, and it wouldn't idle, i drove it home, kindof by revving it to keep from dying, home was only two blocks a way. after that, i waited till it cooled then started it again, it would run really crappy, barely idles, and is really loud. i've never had any problems before this, i just want to know what you guys think the problem is. my friends dad tried to help me fix it, but he said the valves might be bad now, or the head is cracked due to the overheating. oh yeah, white smoke was coming out of the exhaust pipe, right before it happened. now i thought that white smoke meant burning water, but he said white smoke also means overheating. what do you guys think it is? do i need a new engine, or do i need a valve job? any help would be great, thanks for your time. oh yeah, its a 97 civic ex, d16y8.

Chances are the head warped first, then you saw the white smoke when it overheated. Check your oil for coolant, and your coolant for oil. If you find any in the oil, then your going to have to have the oil changed enough times to get all the coolant out. Otherwise, you will either shorten the life of you lower end, or seize it up... The bad performance is coming from the coolant entering the cylinder, causing the miss fires, ect... Also, the radiator will have to flushed if it makes it there too.

Honda's use what is called a simple bearing, which means there is only a very thin coating of oil between rotating parts. Soooo, any kind of coolant, fuel, ect... will cause sever damage within seconds...

The white sickly sweet smelling smoke, is usually the by-product of anti-freeze burning...

Try to leave it parked, to avoid any more damage...

"Noth'in like Induction... ;)

-Ryan-

This happened to a friend of mine on his Supra. He thought the engine was destroyed but it turned out to just be a blown head gasket.

took it over to the dealer to see if my extended warranty covered it, but they told me to make an appointment and it would cost 75 bucks an hour just for an estimate on how much it would cost. so i said screw that, so i took it to my friend's shop and he said the valves are burnt, it would cost about 350 to fix, i think thats pretty good price for a valve job, so now i have to wait till sunday for him to start working on it. he also offered me a b16 from a wrecked 99-00 civic si. he would give me the whole car for 2500-3000. so i don't know what to do now, because i don't want to put any more money into it. i was thinking about after fixing it, try to sell it and buy a 1st gen eclipse, talon, etc. what do you guys think?