The head gasket is a very important component of your car's engine. It seals your vehicle's cylinder head to the engine block. The cylinder head houses the engine valves while the engine block houses the crankshaft and pistons. The head gasket can develop problems such as leaks that can affect drivability. Another severe issue with head gaskets is being blown. Extreme engine temperatures are the main cause for a damaged or blown gasket. These temperature extremes will be caused by not having enough coolant in your radiator or just a coolant leak. There are some warning signs that point to a blown head gasket. Therefore, if your vehicle exhibits some of the following symptoms, your head gasket could be blown, and you need to have it checked.
Contaminated Oil
Contaminated oil is a critical sign of a blown gasket and is a direct result of a leak. To check for this issue, inspect the oil cap of your vehicle carefully. If you observe a milk-like ring around it, the oil is contaminated. This ring indicates that your oil has mixed with the coolant. If unattended to, contaminated oil can cause severe problems, including head gasket failure. For this reason, you need to have it replaced.
Coolant Consumption
There are several coolant passages in your vehicle's cylinder head that are sealed by the head gasket to keep the coolant from running into the combustion chambers of your engine. A ruptured or blown head gasket can easily allow the coolant to leak into the cylinders, leading to increased engine consumption of the coolant. You should be able to see low coolant levels on your coolant level indicator as well.
Exhaust System Problems
There are multiple signs of a blown head gasket that your car's exhaust system can show you. First, you may observe water leaks from the exhaust pipe. In addition, a sweet smell from your vehicle's exhaust system or a light-coloured smoke from the tailpipe will also indicate the same. This light-coloured smoke means that the blown gasket has allowed the coolant to leak into your vehicle's combustion chamber and is now burning.
Engine Issues
Another most notable warning sign of a blown head gasket is high engine temperature.You will be able to read these abnormally high engine temperatures on the thermostat on the dashboard. In addition, if your engine is unresponsive or slow, you could be dealing with a blown head gasket that is causing your engine to experience compression loss, potentially leading to overheating.
