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1994 Pontiac Sunbird car overheated

Tiny
DELIKELLY2
  • MEMBER
  • 1994 PONTIAC SUNBIRD
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 149,210 MILES
My car kept overheating. Now it is lagging, and some white smoke comes out of the exhaust pipe. Could this just be the head gasket or something more serious?
Saturday, June 26th, 2010 AT 11:57 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
BLUELIGHTNIN6
  • MECHANIC
  • 16,542 POSTS
Either head gasket or the cylinder head itself is cracked and needs replaced
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Sunday, June 27th, 2010 AT 12:37 AM
Tiny
FOURTRAXHONDA300
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Aluminum head engines will tolerate moderate overheating, but i'd say no hotter then 230 to be safe. Its not so much a headgasket problem, but the head itself usually cracks. Spilling antifreeze into the cylinder. Antifreeze does not burn, which means your spark plug will foul. Worse, water, or antifreeze does not compress like air, and causes extra pressure in the cylinder. This pressure in turn goes through the cooling system, and usually causes radiators/puke tanks to over flow. But, if you dont mind it running like crap, or any of that. The damage is already done. It wont hurt it any further to run it. It will always miss, and blow smoke and coolant out though.
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010 AT 1:16 AM

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