1990 camry possible blown head gasket - help detect?
 

aloha,

I have a 1990 4 cyclinder camry. I suspect that the head gasket is blown but would just like to double check with anyone on here whom most probably have more experience than me with this car and others of the same nature.

About 3 months ago I replaced the radiator & thermostat because the coolant was dirty and the radiator itself had bursted a leak on the top area. I flushed the system and the coolant was normal green color for about a week and soon returned to it's original dirty state. Also every morning when I start up the car there is a large cloud of white smoke that comes out of the exhaust and continues to come out for about a 1 - 2 minutes. Then it disappears.

I travel uphill to return home everyday and today as I was going up the hill the car wouldn't go. I would press the gas but it seemed I was in neutral. I put the car in park and waited a few minutes with it idling. I put it back into drive and it began to run normal again. About a minute later same thing, it wouldn't drive and it began to overheat. Luckily I made it home.

I haven't driven the car since. When I got home I noticed no leaks anywhere. There was no water in the oil that I noticed. The coolant was dirty as it has been. Looks like watery chocolate milk.

What is everyone's take on this? I don't plan to drive it, I assume this is a good common sense idea? If it is the head gasket, is it worth fixing? A friend of mine told me that even if I change the gasket myself I still to goto a shop and have the head inspected?

Thank you to anyone who replies, I'm sure this thread has been on here thousands of times before, I just wanted to know asap what is going on so I know what I'm going to do.

aloha

RE: 1990 camry possible blown head gasket - help detect?
 

You certainly can have a blown head gasket and not get water in the oil but your case is a little unusual. How is the oil and water level? Is it and automatic? How is the trans fluidlevel? My first thought when reading your post is that maybe you are getting auto transmission fluid in the coolant (car acting like it is in neutral) and then a leaking headgasket is pumping fluid into a cylinder (white smoke/steam). That is a little bit of a stretch but without more inflo any speculation is fair. Check all the fluid levels and post again.

RE: 1990 camry possible blown head gasket - help detect?
 

If the car is over heating due to a HG leak then you could do a compression test to identify the cylinder where the leak is. White smoke is anti-freeze in exhaust if it is thick, hangs in the airand smells sweet.You can do the HG work yourself but you should get the head checked for cracks and flatness. You might also getthe valves lapped and the guideschecked/replaced. How many miles andhow long do youwant to keep car?