What to Look for When Your Head Gasket Blows

March 15th, 2022

The engine block and cylinder head (sometimes cylinder heads if your vehicle has a V-shaped engine) are the two primary sections of your engine. The head gasket helps to bring together the oil and coolant within your vehicle, which flow through both sections and consist of different behaving metals. Keep your eye out for these four signs to know if your head gasket is damaged and contact Capitol Chevy at our service center to schedule a repair. We know a head gasket replacement can be costly, but stopping the issue from the start before it gets worse will help out your cost in the long run.

4. WHITE SMOKE COMING OUT THE EXHAUST

If you start to notice visible white, wispy smoke coming from your tailpipe, there could be an issue with the head gasket. Unless the weather is particularly cold or wet and you can see exhaust or your breath, you shouldn't see any white vapor rising from your vehicle. If your head gasket is leaking inside the engine, this might be the only visible sign. On the inside, your head gasket would be allowing coolant to burn inside the engine from burning off water in the coolant. If left unrepaired, this can cause the engine's cooling system to quit working over time.

3. POOR ENGINE PERFORMANCE

Proper compression within the engine's cylinders helps your engine to make the most power and utilize the least amount of fuel. Compression is lost when there's a leak with the head gasket, causing the engine to be unable to make maximum power. When this happens, more fuel will rapidly be consumed. A head gasket leak is more than likely if you're noticing your fuel economy getting worse along with your engine response.

2. ROUGH IDLE

When the compression is off, your engine's idle strategies don't work properly. A rough idle is a sure sign of head gasket issues along with engine performance. When this happens your engine computer will work to compensate for the loss of compression, which could cause random rises and falls with the RPMs. This may result in your entire vehicle rumbling, even while the transmission is in Neutral or Park.

1. ENGINE OVERHEATING

An overheating engine is the most obvious sign of a blown head gasket. Two mechanisms work to keep your engine cool: the engine oil flowing throughout the engine and the liquid cooling system. Several leaks can happen when a head gasket blows, from oil leaking out of the engine to the outside, coolant leak out of the engine or engine cylinders, and your engine cylinders are being burned up due to combustion. When oil and coolant mix together, neither can do its job and will lead to an overheating engine. When overheating begins, the engine itself can warp and deform, ultimately making the head gasket issue even worse. As soon as you notice your vehicle overheating, we highly recommend stopping the vehicle as quickly as possible. Stopping your engine before it overheats for a prolonged period helps to prevent additional damage.