Learning About Car Parts

Signs That Indicate Your Vehicle Has a Blown Head Gasket

10 May 2016

Mílton Da Cruz

It is important to make sure that you are well aware of the signs of a blown head gasket in your vehicle. This way, you can get it to the mechanic and have the issue repaired as quickly as possible.

The Engine Is Overheating

You need to make sure that you are occasionally glancing down to look at the temperature reading on your dash. It is vital that you immediately pull over if you notice that your engine is overheating. Allow the vehicle to cool down and then check the levels of the coolant and engine oil. If those appear to be fine, you might have a blown head gasket. You will want to have the vehicle towed home or directly to the mechanic's auto shop. Driving with an overheating engine could result in the total loss of your engine.

White Smoke Is Coming Out of the Exhaust

You really should not see a lot of smoke coming out of your exhaust. If you do, it might only be when you first start your vehicle on a very cold morning. However, once the vehicle warms up, you should not notice any smoke. Therefore, if you see that that there is a lot of white smoke coming out of the exhaust even after your vehicle warms up, you will want to quickly schedule an appointment with a mechanic. The sooner you have a blown head gasket fixed the better.

You Are Losing Coolant Too Fast

As your vehicle uses the coolant, you will find that you need to add more to the reservoir container. The thing is, coolant is not something that you should have to add to your vehicle all of the time. If you are starting to notice that you have to keep adding more coolant than usual and there is no sign of a visible leak, you may have a blown head gasket. It is best to schedule an appointment with a skilled mechanic so he or she can search for a hidden leak in a line or determine if the problem is indeed the head gasket.

With these signs in mind, you should have no problem determining if your vehicle needs to be taken to the auto shop for a thorough inspection of the head gasket. This way you will not cause any further damage to your vehicle by continuing to drive with a blown gasket. Contact a service like CHI Cylinder Heads International for more information about your car engine.

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