Big problems

[kyboy80]

I have had my 1996 Chevy Corsica for 5 years now. In that time I have never had problems with it at all. One time I had to replace the alternator but other then that, nothing has ever gone wrong with my car.

Christmas night I got home from traveling and parked the car. After unloading and resting about 2 hours I went back out to visit a friend. When the car started it chugged as if it weren't getting enough gas. So I stepped on the gas pedal and it seemed to be alright. I drove it this past week and it seemed to be alright. I checked the fluid levels and everything seemed to be alright, excpet the coolent was a little low. I filled it back up and didn't think anything about it, even though I have never had to do that before. Then yesterday when I went to go out it chugged really bad again and white smoke was coming out the exhaust, and it was really thick. I shut it off for a couple of minutes and then restarted. It didn't chug and the exhaust seemed to be alright.
This morning when I went to start it up it didn't even crank over. It acted as if the battery was dead. I tried it a couple of more times thinking I better get to the part store to see what was up with it. But when it did turn over and start it barely ran, and when I stepped on the gas nothing happened and the white smoke was bad. It finally started to run a little more normal, but it was still bad so I shut it off and didn't go anywhere.I spent today reading the Hanyes manual for it, I am lost as to what could be the matter with it. Any help would be grealy appriciated.
Thanks

[beuthling]

For blown head----
change oil and fillter - you dont want to run a engine with coolent you will kill it
check for rad fluid level- if low (bad) fill.
Moniter

Check the oil you changed for water coolent anything but oil
If your head goes it starts leaking coolent into oil or vice a versa.
fix imediatly if you find that there is a leak into your oil. Dont drive tow
To do a head is cheap to do a engine is not!

Hope this helps

[corsifreek]

it isnt the head itself it is the head gasket... it isnt very expensive to fix but it does take some time if you dont know what you r doin.... if it is only a 4 cyl. then you only have to change one gasket... if it is a 6 cyl. then you have to replace 2... if you have ne questions dont be afraid to email me at [email protected]

[Kooterskkar]

Sounds like a blown head gasket to me. Pretty common on these cars. Any shop will proly want to charge you $800 or more for the job. You can do it yourself for less than $300.

Once you get the heads off, take them to a local machine shop and have them resurfaced to ensure that they arent warped.