Let’s talk about a blown head gasket. Midwest Auto Care advises that when the head gasket blows, there are a handful of things that will go wrong in the engine. As such, we recommend that you avoid driving your automobile until the head gasket is replaced. It is a good idea to have your vehicle towed to our shop rather than drive it.
Low Coolant Level
As we mentioned in the title of this post, one of the first things that happens when the head gasket blows is the engine will start to leak coolant. The coolant leaks through the crack in the head gasket and into the cylinders. Unfortunately, this leak leaves you with a perpetually low level of coolant. The only way to stop the coolant from leaking into the cylinders is to replace the head gasket.
Overheating Engine
You don’t need us to tell you that if coolant is leaking out of the engine, the engine is going to overheat. In fact, the engine will overheat whenever you drive your automobile. This is not only because the coolant level has been reduced by the coolant leak but also because the heat in the combustion chamber escapes out of the crack in the head gasket.
As you can imagine, the combustion chamber is extremely hot. The excess heat released out of the chamber can make the engine so hot that any coolant that is left in the radiator will start to boil. This creates an entirely different problem in the radiator. The hotter the cooling gets the more pressure that builds up in the radiator. Eventually, the radiator cap will blow.
Excess Exhaust Smoke
The coolant leaks into the cylinders where it gets burned away during engine combustion. Unfortunately, this creates white smoke that can flow out of your tailpipe. Depending on how hot the engine is, you may also have white smoke coming out from underneath the hood. This heat alone is reason enough to stop driving your automobile.
Milky-White Motor Oil
The other reason is that the coolant mixes into the motor oil when the head gasket cracks. This dilutes the motor oil and turns it milky-white. The excess heat alone can damage the engine, but when you combine this with the oil and coolant mixture that circulates through the engine, you can damage the engine beyond repair.
As such Midwest Auto Care in Lake Station, IN, recommends, again, that you have your vehicle towed to our shop if the head gasket is cracked.
