My car has started roughly the last few times and had a lot of white cloudy gas come from the exhaust. However it has been raining and wet for the last 5 days so I'm not 100% sure if it's condensation.

I suspected the head gasket so I went and used a block tester. The fluid color will turn yellow if there is an obvious head gasket leak. Mine turned a blue-green, so I'm not sure what to think.
Some users on other forums say that these tests aren't 100% accurate because exhaust gas from the pipes will seep up into the tube and change the color. I tested three times after the engine had been warmed up for at least 10 minutes. I got the same result each time.



Here are three pictures. Two are of the coolant after the test for comparison. The third is the color from the bottle. Remember the instructions say the fluid will turn really yellow which mine did not, but it's right in the middle.



2


3. Original fluid

 

Have you actually been loosing coolant?
Do you smell sweet odor?
Worst case you could stop by a shop and have them pressure test the system, pretty simple and shouldn't cost you anything.

 

Haven't been loosing coolant and the resevoir tank is at the low mark. There are no leaks in the engine bay, on the ground or near the heater piping.

I'm not sure about the sweet smell. The car has always ran rich and has a gas smell but I wouldn't rule out a sweet smell.

I put my stock ignition back in (I have an MSD) thinking that the MSD was acting up but the same thing happens on the stock ignition. I let it sit for 30 mins and start it up, it runs bad for about 15 seconds then normal. I assume this is coolant burning out from the spark plugs.

 

I left the car alone for a few days while I researched my options.

I went with the temporary cheap fix and bbought head gasket sealant for $14. The shop that I bought it from will also clean and mill the heads if I bring them in for about $100. Anyone know if that's reasonable?

The sealant definetly helped with the bad startup so I assume it stopped the coolant leaking. However after I did this and sat with the car at idle checking everything out, it ran so rich it was unbearable to be near it. It was like just straight gas fumes and the idle was weak. The car normally has a very bad gas smell, but this was like 2x. My UEGO gauge was reading off the chart (18+) at idle.

I then got sucked into the broken ECU resistor concept and almost took out my computer but decided to instead just unplug the battery and reset the check engine light (sub-O2). I also unplugged each spark plug wire from the distributor and they had all returned the same result. Then I checked the injector operation by using a tool to listen to the top of the injector. All are clicking.

The car ran fine after I did that so I know that one of the sensors is bad. My UEGO went back to 15.3 at warmed up idle. Some people have mentioned the coolant temp sensor so I went and bought one of those but it's a PITA to install and I didn't have a deep 19mm socket today to put it in. I know that my #1 O2 sensor should be replaced as well as the sub for sure. The original spark plugs and wires are still in the car so that's another big problem. I'm sure the cat is done for as well. I need to flush the coolant also.

So, as it stands right now, car is running back to how it used to and the gasket sealer worked.

 

Wow sounds very similar to my issues.............

I will be watching this thread closely. GL

 

I had this and it was my ecu. I sent it to auto & truck electronics
and they rebuilt it for $100.00. 5000 miles no trouble. I think they
charge $150.00 now.

866-983-6688
www.autoecu.com

 

guys can u please tell me how many miles u have on your cars-----i assukme you have higher mileage --please correct me if im wrong

thanks

 

It had about 212,000.