If you have blown the head gasket in your car, truck, or utility vehicle’s engine, make certain to have the automobile towed to our shop. Driving the vehicle can cause irreparable engine damage, and you already have severe engine damage with the blown head gasket. It will take a partial engine rebuild to replace the head gasket, and we are going to explain the signs of a blown head gasket below.
Leaking Coolant/Oil
One purpose of the head gasket is to prevent the coolant and motor oil from leaking into the cylinders. When the head gasket cracks, which means it has blown, the coolant and oil will leak out of the engine and into the cylinders. This reduces the levels of coolant and oil in your engine. Replacing the fluids will only cause more coolant and motor oil to leak into the cylinders.
Overheating Engine
Unfortunately, the low level of coolant circulating through the engine is going to cause the engine to overheat. In addition, the heat from the combustion chamber will be released into the engine through the crack in the head gasket. As such, you will see the temperature gauge needle on the dashboard rise quickly into the red zone on the temperature gauge.
In fact, it is common for an engine to get so hot that the coolant starts to boil. This can cause the cap on the radiator to blow off. Unfortunately, when this happens, scorching coolant sprays out of the radiator and all over the engine. This is extremely dangerous as you can be scalded by the coolant. If your car is overheating, pull over and call for a tow truck.
Excess Exhaust Smoke
We mentioned above that the coolant and motor oil leak into the cylinders when the head gasket blows. Consequently, these fluids will be burned along with the air and fuel in each cylinder. If you see white exhaust smoke flowing out of the tailpipe, you’ve got coolant being burned in the cylinders. If you see blue exhaust smoke flowing out of the tailpipe, you’ve got oil being burned in the cylinders.
Diluted Motor Oil
Finally, it can be extremely damaging to drive your automobile with a cracked head gasket because the motor oil gets diluted with engine coolant. As such, the oil cannot protect the engine or draw heat and dirt away from it.
Call us today if you suspect you have a cracked head gasket. We will give you a detailed estimate to repair the problem.
