Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have not had my car to a shop yet, but from what I'm reading I may have a blown head gasket. I have a 1999 Mis Diamante with a 3.5 liter engine. I have constant white smoke out of the tail pipe and when I check the oil it is brown and it will drip off the dip stick. This repair will probably cost more than the car is worth, and I really don't have the money to put in it. At the moment the car still runs good. I asume at some point this will cause a break down. I just want to know what to expect from hear if I keep driving it.
I had a leaking lower intake manifold gasket which needed to be replaced. Antifreeze was leaking and getting into the oil( brown oil on dipstick, white film on the oil cap) but I didn't drive it much to prevent any engine damage. Cost to repair was almost $900, then I got the oil changed immediately after and had the engine steam cleaned to get rid of the burnt anti freeze smell. The car runs fine now.
I'd change the oil at least and try to get it fixed ASAP.
Water is a terrible lubricant. As you continue to drive, you will destroy the crank and cam bearings. As suggested, it could be intake gaskets or something else. Get it checked out, it could turn out to be something easy to fix.
If the "white" smoke has a blue tint, it's just probably burning oil. Old Mitsu engines are notorious for bad valve seals. It's probably ok to run it like this; just keep the oil level full. If it's a head gasket, it will run like complete **** because you will be losing compression on at least 2 adjacent cylinders. First thing I'd do is a compression test. Next, check the coolant level-- if you are losing coolant it will either be burning very puffy white clouds out the tailpipe, or you will be getting milkshake oil (and an overfull level). If this is the case, you need to IMMEDIATELY park the car to avoid further damage.
As tstone said, if it is in fact the head gasket, continuing to drive the car will utlimately end in engine failure and a much more expensive repair. My advice would be to not drive the car until you can get it checked out and repaired.
Agree with what's been said so far, it's actually the glycol in the antifreeze that ruins the oil, but anyway, almost certainly the only satisfactory fix is to replace the head gasket. Given that these engines have valve seal issues, it would only make sense to do at least that with the head while it's getting pressure tested and checked for flatness and/or resurfaced.
"More than the car is worth" is relative. If you are in non-rusting country and the rest of the car is in good shape, why not fix it right? This might be one of the rare times where putting the expense on a credit card and paying it off over time if necessary makes sense.
Failing that, you *could* try something like K-D "Block Seal", you use this stuff by draining the coolant, refilling with just water and this nostrum, run, drain, let dry, and then refill with antifreeze mix. If you are lucky this might work. If you can DIY this it's not very expensive.
You need to change that contaminated oil ASAP.
Final thought, not sure it would work for this car - but I have seen it done with old construction equipment - you can drain the coolant and replace it with kerosene. The kerosene leaking into your oil is way better than glycol. Again I have not seen this done on a modern car and could cause problems, including inadequate cooling.
Best idea is to get a good reliable indy shop that will take plastic to fix it right. Worst idea is to just keep driving it and hope for the best.
You could sell the car as-is as a "mechanic's special".
I agree with the aboves..... A easy test is to check the dip stick again,noting where the level IS and see if the level gets higher in a short time.
If enough coolant gets in there and the engine stays running, which IS doing harm, a point will come where the crank case is so over full it will bring the engine to a stop like a 40 pound sledge hit it, doing as much damage too.
The coolant disperses, or displaced oil, so if you don't act soon much of the bearings in the engine that suppot moving parts will be toast.
If you can locate a shop that has a leak down tester, which is similar but not the same as a compression tester, that will pin point where any leaks are, so long as the tech is familar with the tool.
I own one, but a lot of shops don't. I can't understand why. The tool is no big deal to use either. To use it all the spark plugs come out and clyinder for cylinder you test each one thru the tool with air from the shop. In this case the leak should show listening to the coolant cap filler as bubbles or a hiss. The tool has a gauge in % to measure loss.
Thanks for the advise. I will get it checked out maybe its not a head gasket. The white smoke does have a blue tint. The coolant level is down a little, but so is the oil. I'm having to add a quart about every 1500 miles, but other then that the car still runs well.
There are simple kits available for testing the coolant for combustion gases, although you should be able to look at the oil and look at the underside of the oil filler cap and see coolant/water contamination. You could take an oil sample in for analysis, although if it's brown and looks like a milkshake, that's typical of water/coolant contamination.
When you say "constant white smoke" it's normal for a cold engine to "smoke" (it's actually steam) but once warmed up it should be less, although on a cold day you will still see some condensed water vapor coming out the tailpipe.
If you are doing just short trips in a cold climate, you can build up condensed water in the oil with no mechanical problems.
Where are you, and describe your typical driving cycle.
Yeah, those are notorious for head gasket failures.
This happened on my old 1981 Toyota Cressida that I had in the late 90s. It never overheated, but it would steam and miss. I ended up putting some kind of head gasket stop leak in it and I drove the car for another 15K to 20K miles until it started leaking again. I hear now there is even better stop leak stuff out there, which may be worth a shot if you want to hang onto it a little longer, but if its bad, it may not help.... just a thought.
Those Cressidas were bad for this as well... but it had 180K, so it had been a good one. Gave the car to grandpa to repair, but he gave it to a neighbor who was going to repair it for his granddaughter, but he sold it in 2000 and I havent seen it since. I loved that car.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
