What happens when head gasket goes?

Answer 1

a head gasket can fail in different areas and cause different problems. 1. the most common is for the failure to take place between a water jacket and a combustion area, which can cause coolant to be sucked into the combustion chamber causing an obvious loss of coolant and damage to the converters and the o2 sensors. this condition may be accompanied by white exhaust smoke that has a sweet smell, and an overheating condition will follow. in addition a need for extreme caution is advised when checking the coolant level at the radiator, as it is possible for the combustion gasses to enter the coolant system, which would cause great pressure to build in the entire coolant system. opening the radiator cap under these conditions would result in very serious burns 2. the gasket can fail between two cylinders which can cause both to misfire, you will notice the engine performs poorly and may over heat as the converters begin to clog from their inability to handle the excessive fuel deposits. 3. the gasket may fail externally resulting in an oil or coolant leak . a quick visual test will confirm. 4. coolant may leak internally through an oil return drain causing the oil to resemble chocolate milk. running the engine in this condition will put all internal lubricated parts at a risk of failure, in particular rod and main bearings.