Serious problem

[scrowley]

Ok so last night I was driving home after work, pulled up to a light and my car started to sputter.. and wanted to shut off on me. It would only sputter up until about 2500 rpm... after that it was fine.

I was thinking it was just the plugs or wires, but today.. check the wires they were fine.. was about to check the plugs but I cranked it up just to see. It would hardly crank and it sputtered really bad, and the motor shook violently and then died. Tried again, gave it a little gas and same thing but this time a large amount of white smoke billowed out of the exhaust. I doubt having a bad plug would cause this ? I checked the coolant and when I wiped it off on the engine bay it had a brownish color.. so I guess I'm leaking oil into the coolant ?

I'm far from mechanically inclined so I don't really know what I'm doing heh. I'm thinking a blown head gasket ? Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Vinnito1]

The brownish color is probably due to the fact that the coolant has not been changed enough and you have build up of gunk in the coolant system.

Check you oil to see if it is milky in color. If it is, then that could be a blown head gasket. Is the car smoking more than normal?

[scrowley]

The oil is not milky at all.

Occasionally I've had some white smoke come out when I first started the car, but after that... no smoke.

Also, the coolant doesn't seem to be low at all, and i've never had a problem with over-heating.

I'm starting to think it's the fuel pump, i'm going to replace the plugs and wire set just in case.. hopefully that is the problem
Modified by scrowley at 6:20 PM 11/7/2007

[sideways24d]

If you think you have a leak, degrease the engine and run it for a couple days. If you can get your hands on flourescent dye and a blacklight, that would help too. but look closely at the valve cover gasket, timing cover, water pump. Most common leaks are there but if your blowing white smoke, that indicates water being burned.

Try getting isypropal rubbing alchohol and dumping that into your fuel tank and run the car. That will take the water out of your gas tank. If you still have white smoke, coolant is burning and i would have to say your head gasket is blown.

[Rekless KA]

the coolant could also be getting burnt from the coolant galleries inside the engine, which = to a head gasket, or maybe burnt from the valves not seeling fully and getting some exhaust gasses to it.

[scrowley]

Ok so apparently my plugs were bad. Car runs perfectly now

Thanks for all of the input guys
Modified by scrowley at 11:34 AM 11/11/2007