So my 94 del si crapped out on me earlier. I drove the car this morning for about half an hour, and after i turned the car off and try to start it again, it gave me a very rough idle. So i turned the carr back off and try to start it again but the car wouldnt want to turn over. White smoke was coming from the tailpipe and wat looks like coolant was dripping from the exhaust manifold area while i was trying to start the car. It seems like a definite blown gasket but im confuse to why the car wouldnt turnover. What can be my problem besides the blown headgasket?

 

Nothing. You are most likely pushing coolant right into the cylinders if it's that bad.

 

So what should i do about this if this is the case? Btw my reservoir looks a tad dirty and i have to put in extra coolant sometime last month because of over heating.

 

Erm. Replace the head gasket? If you're overheating it on a regular basis then you might have warped the head too.

 

Take it apart and inspect the cly walls and pistons as well the head when you replace the head gasket.. More and likely just head gasket, if you haven't been running it hot. Blocks dont tend to crack without excessive heat or major broken parts..

 

Is there any way to check for a warp head? Will the blown head gasket make the car not start becaise of coolant in the cylinders? Sorry if im asking too much question.. i really appreciate your help..

 

Take a strait edge to the head surface or take it to a machine shop they can tell you

 

If there's a lot of coolant in the cylinders, it might hydrolock the engine and keep if from turning over. Take the spark plugs out and see if it turns over now. If it still doesn't, you have a second problems because a blown head gasket won't keep the engine from turning over.

To check for a warped head you need to take it off the engine.

 

Thanks guys... will b doing a compression test tomorrow and changing head gasket... will keep ya updated... if theres anything else i should b looking for please do post... thanks

 

Update... compression reads 180 160 150 180.... im leaning towards bad rings.. what do ya think?

 

what would possibly lead you to that conclusion? The head gasket is blown. Pull the head, check it for cracks and warpage.

 

No crack or warpage of the head... im just leaning towards bad rings because the last time car was on their was a hesitation like a misfire.. plugs are black with a slight green tint on the tips.. im not sure just guessing the rings cuz car wouldn start up and while cranking a lot of white smoke from the tailpipe...i would love for it just to be the hg but the issue is the car doesnt want to start... will a bad hg cause that too?

 

How in hades can you tell if the head is warped without taking it off the block? With those compression results and white smoke you have a blown head gasket.

 

How would you know? From what I can tell you never pulled the head yet. (hint, the head needs to come off to check for cracks or warpage)

Bad rings wont cause a no start condition, they'll cause excessive oil consumption, blue smoke, and if they're really worn some power loss. Blown headgaskets on the other hand will give you symptoms like coolant loss, overheating, white smoke, low compression on adjacent cylinders, no start conditions; you know, all the symptoms you're having.

 

Sorry forgot to mention that i did pull the head already. My buddy just metioned that it could b bad rings. So im in between on what i should do. If youre for sure that it can b the problem then i will go ahead and swap the hg..

 

no offense...your buddy is either a idiot, or you are leaving out problems.

If your rings were bad...you'd have either had blue smoke and/or low oil. *have you checked your oil?*

Coolant loss and overheating = headgasket. It has nothing to do with rings.

If you pulled your head already> what the hell where you thinking by NOT CHANGIN the headgasket? they are 20 bucks at all autopart stores, and the hardest part of the job is...PULLING OFF THE HEAD! it takes 2 mins to scrap the gasket and install a new one once you got the head off.

Something doesn't add up, or you and your buddy aren't the sharpest knives in the draw. A headgasket is 20 bucks and pulling a head is a good 2 hours of labor, why WOULDNT you change the HG if you already pulled the head off...?

 

I don't think the head was ever pulled.

 

Head is definitely off the block... just trying to get an idea of what else could b wrong b4 i assemble everything back together.

 

Then how did you do the compression test? I'm going to guess you're going to say you did it before. Your problem now? You jumped the gun. The leakdown test you could have performed to tell you definitely if you also had problems with your rings cannot be done with the head off.

Stop guessing and troubleshoot.

 

You said there was green **** on the plugs. That green **** is coolant. If the rings were bad, you might have black **** on your plugs, not green. If you have coolant in your cylinders, you have a blown head gasket.

Replace the head gasket. While you're at it, take a straight edge to the top of the block, as well as the mating surface of the head. If it isn't absolutely PERFECT, take it to a machine shop. Also while you're at it, go through the timing belt replacement procedure. Also, replace your valve cover gasket and spark plug gaskets. Assuming you pulled the intake and exhaust manifolds off to remove the head, replace those gaskets as well. If you pointlessly pulled the throttle body off the intake manifold, replace that gasket too.

Basically, if there's a gasket, replace it. If there's a belt, replace it. If whatever that belt touches is replaceable and a wear item, replace it.

fed: damn you grumble, beat me to it again.

 

X2 on what grumble said

You jumped the gun and should've done a leakdown test

 

I would take it to a machine shop, check for straightness, also check your valve seals, you might want to rebuild the head, If you are smoking at start up chances are the valve seals are bad, I think I have that issue, it seems like whitish smoke, but more like light blue gray smoke.