1G Help! I think my engine blew up.

[Prymal]

I have a 1991 ESi Turbo.

So today I was driving my car and took it for a pull to about 4000 and as a slowed down at stop light my car started to jitter and died which is not normal I have never had my car just die like that. When I started the car back up I saw a huge amount of white smoke float over my car. The car idled at the stop but sounded pretty rough. When I took off from the light I saw more white smoke so I pulled over and the car died again. I started the car and got more white smoke and a constant stream of white though the tail pipe. I revved the engine twice and built up an 8 foot tall dense cloud of smoke so I shut the car off and left it on the side of the road.

Does anyone have suggestions as to what might have happened?

 

[jayman089]

Blown headgasket? Maybe? Someone else chime in

 

[dan2288]

yea, sounds like the headgasket to me.

 

[inthemidst]

first check your turbo for any shaft play

 

[ilco187]

sounds like a blown head gasket.

 

[snakeyes711]

Tow it back, and have a look. Do a compression test to start.

 

[inthemidst]

if your car still runs normal but with smoke its deffinetly your turbo

 

[ilco187]

if your car still runs normal but with smoke its deffinetly your turbo

as you seen him say it kept stalling, so its not the turbo.

 

[BigBeans]

Already been said, headgasket.

Check the coolant for oil and the oil for coolant.
Do a compression test.

 

[inthemidst]

no he said it stalled once and turned it on reved it twice and he decided to shut the car off

although im not saying that it cant be the headgasket

 

[tscook3]

Prob the head gasket, but get the car back and do a compression test and check for coolant. Normally you will have that huge cloud of steam if you blow a headgasket, just kind of weird how you didn't see a sign of overheating before that happen. You should see coolant in the engine bay sprayed everywhere if it is headgasket too. Good luck

 

[blkgst97]

Like everyone said, sounds like a head gasket. Check for coolant in the oil and visa versa

 

[Prymal]

it stalled twice, onces when i came up to the stop light and again when i pulled over into a parking lot

 

[My1GLaser]

Does the smoke have a sweet smell? If so then it is probably the HG. So maybe you didn't blow the engine, but you can get away with just pulling the head, getting it machined and slapping on a new HG & head studs.

The other possibility is burning oil, and it will smell horrible. Like if you threw a gallon of oil onto a campfire. If it goes directly to the exhaust then it will burn white and not blue like when it goes into the combustion chamber. Blown turbo seals, extreme crank case pressure are the two things that come to mind.

I have personal experience with the latter to verify that it could be oil burning white. I have a check valve b/w the IM & PCV at the VC. Well I thought it would be a good idea to put one on the other side b/w the VC breather & intake pipe. As soon as I got into boost the car would pump out white smoke and I could fill the neighborhood in seconds. I never would have believed it unless I saw it, b/c conventional knowledge says oil normally burns blue.

 

[ilco187]

no he said it stalled once and turned it on reved it twice and he decided to shut the car off

but if the turbo quit or blew, it would still run strong and idle fine, head gasket im more than positive, he also said runs rough so with the coolant flooding the cylinder or cylinders causes a bad idle.

 

[n8dsmdriven]

Already been said, headgasket.

Check the coolant for oil and the oil for coolant.
Do a compression test.

++1

 

[Prymal]

it does smell sweet so i am going to go with everyone and agree its the head gasket. Could someone give me a ballpark for how much i should pay to have this fixed. I am not equiped to do it myself

 

[this_tsi_8urV8]

More than doing a t-belt job. Labor alone and depending on rate, at least $600, plus parts.

 

[Griffeclipsed98]

just persay, if you did actually blow your motor it would eather be knocking horiably or it wouldnt evan turn over and/or also your motor would take a dump all over the road under your car. piston rings can brake or slip but you would notice some knocking and absolutely no power and wouldnt run at idle speeds and would also smoke, a compression test would show no compression at all or under 100 psi, good compression should be 150 or better in every cylinder

another easy way to check to see if its your turbo pop off your charge tube to your TB if there is any amount freash oil in the charge tube and on the outside of your TB butterfly valve you would have a bad oil seal in the turbo. aslo check for blow by pop off the intake pipe (air filter to turbo) if your motor is stock and you havent moded your breather tubes it would dump oil into your Intake pipe. but it sounds like you found the prob eather way check it out just to be sure

 

[Prymal]

Thanks everyone for the information. any other guesses then about $600 i want to make sure i dont get ripped off.

 

[zyphermonkey]

$600 seems pretty cheap, but depending on area and mechanic who knows.

I've personally heard between $600 - $1000. It all depends on where you go and what extras are done.

If your getting a new head gasket it might be a good time to replace your timing belt and all other related components, that is if you haven't done that already.

 

[illinifrever]

Probably the head gasket... As you've already heard. Head blew up on my old Honda, not white smoke, but still smoked and the gasket was leaking oil everywhere. Check your spark plugs and see if oil spilled over into them.

 

[moi1463]

If it is the HG you gotta have your engine checked out for any warping, ### if you been overheating for a while and only noticed because your car died, then it's a good chance that the block is messed up. Since it's gonna be part, take the time to do check on it. Putting in a new HG might not always fix the problem, but if lucky that is all it need along with new belt and water pump. GL

 

[Prymal]

I did have an issue with overheating during the summer, the car would not start for me unless i let it cool off. but after i got the radiator flushed it didnt happen again. the engine temp gauage in the dash always showed it was running close to red once the car warmed up though.

 

[LittleBear]

If you want, you can do it yourself. It would save so much money in the long run. You can also do some up grades. Stud, belts, pump and more depending on your budget. We are here for you.