possible head gasket problem?!?

[Mustang30240]

posting this for a friend who hasn't joined the SN community yet

well i was heading over to meet TOMMYv8...filled up at casey's,and drove about 25miles.
then i slowed down for a car,and it just started cutting out bad. i stopped,popped the hood checked evrything.didn't find a damn thing took off,and drove about 1 mile,and
then it just started cutting out.when i looked behind i saw smoke everywhere.
i imediately shut her off..looked her over again,and when proceeded to start her up it sounded like i locked her up..waited then it fired up with a plume of smoke barrel of smoke coming from the exhaust.

anyways i waited,about 30min.stated it up and nothing no smoke no cutout.
started it up again let her warm up,and then it shot up to 180(i have a 160),and smoke came again.

i checked my dipstick,and it was clean,and no leaks,but my coolant did smell gassy to me?????i did add some stop leak in my radiator a while back..


so did i blow it? or is this some watered down gas???

is my bottem end still good?or do i need a new motor?
if anybody knows what is going on tell me!!!!!! thanks art.

 

[speedytang]

Sounds like a head gasket. You can test this by going to Autozone or Advance and use a radiator pressure pump and bring the pressure to 12lb and watch for the gauge to drop.

 

[Mustang30240]

any other opinions?

 

[Mike92GT]

Try pulling the plugs and see how they look. I had a similar problem not too long ago. I had shut the car off, and when I started it 5 minutes later, it cranked real slow, then it started and blew a bunch of white smoke out the exhaust. I went home and pulled the plugs, and coolant dumped out of #3 cylinder. It had been running a little warmer then normal as well, but it still ran fine. It does sound like you have a blown head gasket

 

[jrichker]

Only use a compression tester with a screw in adapter for the spark plug hole. The other type leaks too much to get an accurate reading. Your local auto parts store may have a compression tester to rent or loan. If you do mechanic work on your own car on a regular basis, it would be a good tool to add to your collection.

With the engine warmed up, remove all spark plugs and prop the throttle wide open, crank the engine until it the gage reading stops increasing. On a cold engine, it will be hard to tell what's good & what's not. Some of the recent posts have numbers ranging from 140-170 psi. If the compression is low, squirt some oil in the cylinder and do it again – if it comes up, the rings are worn. There should be no more than 10% difference between cylinders. Use a blow down leak test (puts compressed air inside cylinders) on cylinders that have more than 10% difference.