Smoke, Squeel and loss of power

NORTHERNVIKE

MEMBER
2002 SATURN VUE
6 CYL
AWD
AUTOMATIC
140,000 MILES

Hello,

I was driving down the interstate with my cruise control set at about 73 mph. I was going up a slight hill, when the check engine light flashed three times, I lost a considerable amount of power and white smoke was coming form my exhaust. I pulled off of the road to a gas station. The car didn't overheat, the coolant was still full. The car still starts, but when you drive it, a considerable amount of oil smelling white smoke comes out of the exhaust and a little out of one of my AC vents. Once you reach about 40 MPH, there is a high pitch whistle that goes a way when the car is idling. The whistle also isn't present when I revved the engine while in park. When I revved the engine higher, it made a little gurgle sound.

Any ideas?

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,741 POSTS

The white smoke is the classic sign of a leaking cylinder head gasket. Eventually you will see a loss of coolant. At first combustion gases can sneak into the cooling system to displace the coolant being burned and going out the tail pipe. If enough of those gases pool under the thermostat, that will prevent it from opening, and overheating will result. Thermostats have to be hit with hot liquid to open. Hot air won't do it.

To verify a leaking head gasket, your mechanic can perform a chemical test at the radiator or reservoir. That involves drawing air from there, while the engine is running, through a glass cylinder with two chambers partially-filled with a special dark blue liquid. If combustion gases are present, the liquid will turn bright yellow.