I think i have a blown head gasket. not sure though. car is smoking (white) from around the header area. can't pin point location. also smoking a little out the tail pipe. car hasn't been started in about 6 mths. i ran it for about a total of 45 min. never ran close to hot. no signs of leaking oil. i checked oil for water..the oil just looks really old...if i replace the head gasket...do i have to get the head surface? or what are the other options of looking into. it's a 94 del sol sohc non vtec. is there anyway you can tell if the head is cracked without taking it to a machine shop. thanks for the help

 

i believe if you have a blown head gasket the engine would start to overheat, you said it wasnt so start looking somewhere else.

 

what else would cause it to smoke around the headers?

 

just guessing without visual, but for a coolant leak might be spraying onto the headers or maybe a valve cover leak dripping down onto the headers.