My car wouldn't start the other night. I rolled it back and popped the clutch. Wasn't rolling fast enough to start it but then I was able to start it with the ignition. The next day car wouldn't start again. I rolled it back again for better access to the battery and jump started it this time. It started. It was running a little rough. I placed a trickle charger on it but it read full battery. Then I noticed white exhaust coming out the tail pipe. It wasn't think. Just what you see on a cold day. It dissipated quickly. I turned the car off and checked the oil. It has that milky color to it. My fluids had been topped off recently but my fluid reservoir was empty. Added so antifreeze and nothing is leaking out the bottom of the car. Car occasionally fluctuates at idle, which I've learned is more often than not, a vacuum issue.
I'm sure this a pretty massive problem and I'm a beginner. I don't have tools to do pressure tests or anything. I'm concerned it's something bigger than just a blown head gasket or something.
Any help troubleshooting this?

 

Blown head gasket or cracked head or block. Simply remove sparkplugs and check each one for coolant, wetness or super clean because they have been steam cleaned. Check coolant overflow reservoir for oil residue. Toast!

 

I recently had my spark plugs changed so I'm not sure how dirty they are supposed to be. No oil residue in the reservoir. I'll pull the plugs today and probably change the head gasket just as a first step. But the oil cap has milky oil in it also. I assume I will drain and refill oil afterwards. Do I need to flush it? With more oil? How many times? Would I be able to see a crack in the head or block?

 

Compression and leakdown test will help identify your concerns

 

You need to include the model, year and engine in your car plus any modifications done.
Some cracks can be hairline and only found by using dye and pressurized (engine running). The head could be warped by now, check with a straight edge if you pull it. If the engine is high mileage maybe a swap/replacement is the way to go.

 

Yes a drain and fill will be necessary, after you're done with the headgasket job you can fill the motor up with some cheap oil and a good filter, run for a minute, drain it, more cheap oil, run, drain, and if it drains out pretty clean put a new filter on and good oil. You'll want to drain and fill the cooling system too, you can use water until it drains out clean, refill with a proper 50/50 mix of some green coolant. As for looking for the crack, once you have the head off, take it to get at least pressure tested and magnafluxed at a machine shop. Preferably you'd get the valves worked, but if you're cramped for cash just do the pressure test and magnaflux, those will test for cracks on the head, and get it surfaced to ensure a flat mating surface to your new head gasket.
As for the block, scrape as much of the old headgasket off as possible, take your time and be clean about it, brake cleaner is good, but acetone is cheaper and it's the same thing. A crack will appear as a brownish black crack, a jagged line, check the cooling jackets for them. If you see a suspect spot, try to get a few good quality pictures from a few different angles and post them here, there are a lot of members here who have a lot of experience with these motors and can offer some advice as to whether or not it's really a crack. But if this is your first head gasket job don't be overwhelmed, take your time and plenty of pictures, these motors are about as simple as they come and all the information you'll ever need is right here. Good luck.

 

OK. It's a 93 Honda civic coupe. It's had the engine rebuilt once. Had oil changes and fluids topped off 2K miles ago. I'm going to start with the head gasket and drain and replace oil and coolant. And yes, this is my first head gasket job but this is not my first post. This community has helped with 4 or 5 major issues with my Honda before. Thanks for all the help.

 

So I haven't started taking it apart yet but I was looking at my radiator a little more closely. No oil residual is visible. When I looked in the radiator, it looked wet but the fluids weren't visible. So since I'm going to need to flush this, I just poured 2 liters of water into the radiator before it was topped off. I hope this is a good sign that I didn't drive it totally dry with no coolant. Any thoughts?

 

Has it overheated?

 

I never got any warning lights or smoke coming from the engine. My concern is that if the head gasket blew and I lost all the coolant by going into my oil, it was running dry and hot and therefore increases my chances of cracking or seriously warping. This is all speculation and for not because i will get the head pressure checked. My ultimate question here is because I only added 2 quarts of water before it was topped off, it is not completely dry.

 

Evenif your answer to the over heat question is a no, doesn't mean you didn't drive it to extinction.

Water/Coolant in the oil (milky) means the oil isn't acting like oil any more so depending on how much it was driven with the not so much like oil will depend on if there is bearing and journal damage.

First thing is first, get the head off and see if you see definite head gasket failure. If you don't see definite head gasket failure, then start looking for cracks. Can't find cracks, then you are going to have to get the head and block tested for cracks.

For the most part.... If you don't have definitive head gasket failure upon inspection, it might be cheaper to find a used motor in decent condition than trying to bring that one back from the dead.

YMMV

 

Milkshake oil is from the oil mixing with coolant, hopefully you caught this in time.

 

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