Oh no! Car Trouble!

[92ThoStro]

I am hoping it isn't the head gasket..... oh boy oh boy

ETA: Might as well say it's a 2003 Nissan Sentra 1.8 Liter QG18DE engine
Well, I am sure this has nothing to do with the warm starting problems I have had since 40K miles ( I am at 60K miles now ), which I had made a thread on. I have not tested my fuel pressure, I had another issue pop up right after that thread, but the forums over at b15sentra are full of people who say the b15sentras have weak fuel pumps, and to drive it until the fuel pump goes out, if it ever does, and replace it.

The last issue I had was a crank shaft position sensor go out. Not a big deal. I took it to the shop because it was in such a stupid spot, I couldn't reach it myself.

Well, now all of the sudden I start my car and it whimpers out. So I start it again, and it dies. Then I decide to give it gas after I start it, and I powered through the rough start. It was idling around 600 RPM

I then see WHITE smoke billowing out my tailpipe, and my heater isn't working!

My reservoir tank is still just under "max", and my radiator is topped off still, and the coolant in the tank and the radiator is bright neon green. No oil in my coolant, and no milky oil, or watery residue under my oil cap or on my dip stick. I used 5w-30 extended synthetic mobil-1. It is good for around 7,000, I usually change at 5, I changed it 1,000 ago.
It stops smoking when the car heats up. If it was a head gasket wouldn't it keep smoking until my radiator is empty and my car overheats? I'm still at MAX and MAX in both my radiator and overflow.

One thing I do notice is that when I take off my radiator cap, my overflow tank gurgles, but doesn't overflow or anything. Is that normal? My radiator didn't bubble or anything, and no bubbles were in my overflow, just when I took the cap off, the overflow gurgled a bunch.

I guess my next step is to pull off a coil pack and look into the cylinder? I don't want to pull a plug, because don't you need a special tool to gap the plugs correctly? I had my neighbor do it for me when I bought the OEM 100,000 iridium or whatever plugs last time and got rid of the stock plugs. I didn't know about the gap settings, I had a problem taking the plugs out, they were completely seized in there, even with a pipe. He use to build race cars, and has a full garage including a lift at his house, and he asked me what gap they are suppose to be at, and I said "huh" LOL but he said he thinks he knows, and did it his way.

If you tell me it is as simple as pulling them out, and putting them back in, I can do that.

 

[HoughMade]

I can't diagnose very well from afar, but unfortunately it does seem like it could be the head gasket, but it could be other things as well. If the head gasket has a small leak between the coolant passages and the combustion chamber, you would not necessarily have oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil. Also, when it warms up and metal expands, the leak could close up. However, any leak will just get bigger. It may not be large enough yet to cause a noticeable drop in the coolant level, but that's coming. It could also be an intake manifold gasket leak. It would have pretty much all the same signs. Of course, any time there are signs of a gasket leak, the real leak could be a crack in the head, block or intake.....but let's not think about that.

Unless your plugs are special ones of some sort (Ford modular 3 valve engines come to mind), the "special tool" to gap plugs is about $3 and if they were gapped correctly when you took them out and don't smack the electrode, you should not need to gap them, but I always check the gap when I pull them out.

 

[92ThoStro]

Thanks Hough, I'll pull he plugs after work. I also have two recalls 1 for ECM and 1 for the passenger airbag that I need to take care of. So if I don't see anything in the plugs, I will go ahead and take it in for the recalls and let them start it up in their garage. When their garage fills with smoke, they will probably check it out and let me know. I was reading that the labor costs are over a grand to change the head gasket. Or the price of the gasket, like 20 bucks, if you do it yourself. But it is a 5 hour job for a noob and the potential to mess things up

 

[Mormprepr]

Ingo member rocket is an excellent mobile mechanic.

 

[stephen87]

Head gasket usually runs around $800 to fix, in my experience. In parts, it costs about $50, but you need a torque wrench and some other tools. If your neighbor has tools laying around, you might see if he can give you a hand diagnosing and fixing the issue.

 

[Bigtanker]

Toughest part about pulling the head is getting the timing belt/chain lined up correctly THE FIRST TIME. A mis alignment can mean bent valves. Other than that, pretty simple.