coolant leak into engine block?

[frankeng2003]

My brother's car has white smoke coming out of the exhaust. The cold temperature must have frozen the antifreeze, thus overheating the engine. Anyways, The previous radiator was constantly leaking. he had probably just topped it with water. Last week he replaced the radiator, but i guess the damage has been done. The engine oil is clean, radiator fluid is empty, and white smoke coming out of the exhaust. is it a cracked engine block? How much to repair, or does the engine have to be rebuilt?

[funky_monkey_99]

i dunno if i'm correct or not, but i thought that the white smoke was from a broken head gasket. the auto guys can probably clear this up for u though

[Rokkin]

Way too much oil will cause lots of smoke. Check the level.

[mrchinky]

White smoke is caused by burning engine coolant

You get blue smoke if the engine is burning oil

[kmltick]

What year and model is the car, chances are it is the headgasket though.

[i6s1]

Rebuild alert. It's a head gasket or cracked top end. If it was the bottom part of the block you'd have milky oil.

[frankeng2003]

93 civic. It seems like head gasket leak. How much to repair?

[iGarage]

head gasket for civic is any where from 300 -500
depend on what parts

just simply re and re and a cheap gasket get will cost 300

then you can add the machining the head for anohter $60
then you can put new timing belt and water pump while you at at the head ..

[frankeng2003]

thanks for the response. So the engine is still good right? It never reached the red parts of the temperature gauge. The timing belt was replaced already, maybe just do the head gasket, machining, and water pump. That should cost me 750 around there if my math is correct.

[climacus]

Very common problem on the 5th gen Civic. Just fix it up and you're good to go.

[snguy82]

if its the head gasket, seriously consider a JDM swap . Its a 93 motor so chances are its got a lot of miles on it. U can find a JDM engine for under a $1000 and it should have less miles on it.

I thought my 93 civic had a hg leak too. If it did, I would have gone with a swap or gotten another car since the car is worth like 1000-1500 tops. But then again, if ur able to do the work yourself, go for it!

something to consider.

[frankeng2003]

What is JDM? its a motor from japan or something? Not really into tuning, but that seems like a good idea. Where do you buy one of those? So with install, how much would be total cost?

[russfest]

I agree, looks like er sounds like a HG. Is your water level going down any?

Are you sure you are constantly steaming and its not just cause of the cold? When you say your engine overheated, is your water pump working or what about your cooling fan?


JDM does mean japan domestic market. You can get them from a number of places. Theres one for sure, possibly two down on mitchell island under knight str bridge.

I got a 2jzgte engine from them from japan. When I bought it, they gave me the whole front clip as well because I wanted the wiring harness and computer as well. For you they will have the engine sitting there.

They can usually give you an idea around abouts how many clicks are on it. But when you get it, change the timing belt for sure before tossing it in.

[hehehaha]

i have a 95 civic, the head gasket cost me $450 to repair(without machining)


edit: i had the same symptoms as yours, so i think HG is the problem

[frankeng2003]

its gonna cost me 550 to 600, but taking such a long time. tuesday it should be ready. thanks for the info..