Man my car is screwing up! Im pretty sure that its a head gasket thats blown, but I just want yalls advice. Its spitting out sour smelling white smoke, on the reservoir there are black pieces of...something, and its running mad hot. On top of that, the radiator fluid is running out QUICK, and when in idle the car kinda sputters (or something like that) and takes a while to pick up. Im temporarily retiring this car, I cant drive it in this condition. PLEASE help me out, I got a lot of stuff to do and im stuck without this car! If it is the head, good news is that I can get a V-tech head swap. This is my daily driver, but I could make it a bit faster with that. Is that a good Idea? Thanx for yalls time if you even read this.

P.S. Anyone live in or near Tallahassee? or Atlanta?

 

There is really nothing I can tell you except it is a bad head gasket, and either you get someone to do it or do it yourself
get a helms and make sure you get the head shaved so that the head gasket seats good onto the block
timing is also important
that is all

 

Does sound like a headgasket. There are a couple things that you can do to find out what might be ailing your car:

1. Compression Check
2. Leak Down Test

Compression Test Article

Leak Down Test Article


Yes, you can swap the head from a VTEC engine to your engine. But, if you are going to that trouble why not swap the entire drivetrain (engine and transmission) into your car? It's about the same amount of work, the cost isn't too bad, and it will make a bigger difference in performance than swapping the head alone. Just make sure to do all the standard mantainence stuff if you decide to swap (timing belt, water pump, etc.) as it will be much easier when it's out of the car.

My $.02