Hopefully my head isn't warped.

[JoeShmoe]

So yesterday around lunch time I get in my car to go to lunch. I'm pulling out of the parking lot and I start to smell coolant, I looked at my tmp gauge it was looking good. So on the drive to and from the food joint I still smell the coolant, and my gauge still reads fine. So I get back to work and the smell is stronger than ever. I want to get under the hood and make sure my car is ok but because my boos in on my ass about finishing a large project, I go back to work immedeatley (spelling.) So I don't realy smell anything when I'm leaving the parking lot to go home. But on a 20mi stretch home, I'm doing about 80mph at about 3.5k rmps for a good 10 minutes. So I pull up to the first red light, and then Click! My oil pressure light comes on and the whole car shuts down! White smoke is blowing from underneath the hood and my car won't turn anymore so I can edge over to an empty lot. So, the big question is, Did my car overheat when I downshifted at the light to brake with my engine? Or did my car overheat while I was running at 85mph and it was just waiting to come to a stop? And do you guys think my head is warped?



Lazy Notes:
Car smelled like collant all day
Drove home about 80mph for about 12min, came to a light and car shut itself off w/ white smoke under hood
Would not start up, had to push into vacant lot
What's the best/worst scenarios for this situation?

PS Haven't gone to see it yet, but I will when I get out of work today.

[david-b]

1) Why engine brake? Engines are expensive... brakes are cheap.



So it smells like coolant but your oil pressure light came on? Check your coolant levels and your oil levels. Change your oil and see if there's coolant mixed in with the oil. Sounds like you may have a leak there. Worst case would be a blown ring. Any leaks under the car?

The only real way to warp a head is to run it overheated for a while, like a long while. I ran my new head in the red for awhile numerous time (don't ask) and it's still good.

[JoeShmoe]

Well, the oil level was good before all this happened. My initial guess would be the water pump gone bad causing shit to go wrong. But I don't think that is what it was because I smelled the cooland well before I overheated. So I glanced at my engine bay for about a minute and couldn't find a leak anywhere. Then again, the engine had just overheated so any fluid present would have evaporated.

I didn't notice any leaks before, never had a problem with overheating. Where should I start looking?

[LandoAWD]

Check the oil and coolant. If they mixed; head gasket.

[SilvrEclipse]

The oil light is just a pressure switch. When the oil pressure gets below 5psi the light comes on. When the light comes on its usually to late and the motor is already gone. Check oil and drain, look for metal.

Sorry to hear this but its not looking good man.

[JoeShmoe]

Ok, is it going to be easy to see if the coolant is mixed with the oil? When I pull the dipstick out, will it stain a paper towel with the coolant color? I will use a strainer to see if I have metal in my oil when I drain it. I'm going to check it out in an hour when I leave work.

[tfoti]

It will look like a milkshake.

[ned032002]

To look for lots of metal in the oil/coolant concoction after it has drained take a magnet through the liquid and see what you pull out. I would use one of those extend able long reach magnets.

Hope everything works out so it doesn't kill your wallet, especially since not everyone has the money just sitting around for an engine. Good luck dude.

[JoeShmoe]

Thanks guys, so I went to check on my car yesterday. System was dry of coolant, I opened the drain on the radiator and nothing. I checked the oil and it seemed to be at a correct level. But check this out, before this happened, my oil was very dark because it was time for me to change it. After my car overheated, the oil looks as if it were new, very clear. another thing, it doesn't smell like oil anymore, it smells like paint. WTF???

I tried to crank it up but it just won't. Compression test?

[LandoAWD]

Drain tha thing. Does sound like a popped head gasket at best.

[JoeShmoe]

I will, as soon as I get home from work taoday my brother is towing it to his house so I can work on it. The blown head gasket would cause it not to start right?

[SilvrEclipse]

A blown headgasket would cause you to loose compression so the may or may not run. Depends on how bad its leaking.

[JoeShmoe]

This blows ass, I have to read up on the FAQs cause I haveen't done a compression check before. I'll try and do that tonight, if not by friday night I should be posting up the numbers.

[david-b]

You should deliver the car up here and we can tear it apart. It's not hard, but can be a pain if you've never done it before. Good luck on numbers. Poor 420a.

[JoeShmoe]

Yeah, I would have it towed and with me still in it, lol. No, but really I've een wanting to pverhaul my engine anyway. Too bad it happened when finances aren't doing to well.