My Cavy has been overheating all the way up to the Red zone. I replaced the thermostat and it still did the same. I tried it without the thermostat, still no change. Bought the car used so i have no clue as to when the collant was changed. He said i should flush the radiator. When doing so i noticed some black deposits in the container which i suspected someone used black pepper to fix a leak in the radiator. Well we tried driving it to the nearest autozone and well i didn't even make it half way. Got home and something told me to check the oil and thats when i noticed my oil was a tannish white color (Kinda like milk). Now i am not to car savy but i am thinking that my head gasket is bad. Can anyone help me out? Also whats a ball park figure in getting this fixed at a shop since i can't do it myself.

ill tell you now its probly the radiator bro even the smallest leak will be a b i t c h and it will drain ur fluid relaly fast cuz i had it happen to me b4 when i had my saturn.. well thats for the radiator problem now about milky oil beats da hell outta me bud gl


5 seconds to find another street...

milky oil is a sign of a blown headgasket. as for how much, hahahaha, i can tell you it isn't going to be cheap. even if you do the work yourself, your still looking at spending a good amount, not to bad assuming the head is in good condition, but if its not, then your talking about more money there.




Goal is to make my N/A Auto faster then a manual without doing engine internals

Make your registry correct first. If you have a 96, you have a 2.2 OHV, not a 2.0 SOHC.

Milky oil = bye bye engine. As soon as you ahve coolant in the oil, the bearings go to hell. Find another 2.2 in a junk yard and have it swaped.

As for why it was overheating, could be a dead waterpump, pluged hose, ....



Gilles
2.3 Ho

Thanks alot guyz, i figured that the headgasket was the problem. This sucks bad because i just crashed my Neon 2 days ago and now i have no car. I will look for another engine but problem will be money issues.

I changed the registry, don't know why i put SOHC....probably was thinking about the Neon.

The milky oil is caused by coolant mixing into the oil through the part of the headgasket that's blown. The engine will probably be fine, as long as you stop driving it now, and haven't noticed any really bad clicking sounds from the engine while it's running. Find yourself a friend who is good with cars and ask him to help you change the headgasket. I'm not sure what kind of condition the head is going to be in (because it's been overheating) but assuming it's not warped at all, you can expect to spend less than $100 if you and a friend do the work. Don't just watch, do it with him and learn something...

When it's all back together, change the oil and let it run for a couple of minutes, then change the oil again. It should be fine after that. It's better to try this method first as opposed to buying a new car or engine.


_________________________________________________________________

Sometimes it's easier to do things the hard way.


1997 Pontiac Sunfire SE 2-door

To rebuild it would be a good idea but the engine WILL let go in a few months. Once the coolant mix with the oil, it's over.

It will take less than a mile to destroy a set of bearing when there's coolant in the oil.



Gilles
2.3 Ho

i got a question it is possible to have oil in the coolant tank instead of coolant in the oil tank????
if so what that means???
thank you

coolant will not wipe out bearings that fast. as long as u havnt drivin it much, and didnt beat the hell out of it wen it was mixed. but if they did start to go, you should have time to get new bearings after you do the head. ur lucky u have a 2.2, they're ALLOT easier to do head gaskets on than a 2.4...

mfk, i don't normally question anything you say because i know you know your sh*t, but i would have to disagree with what you said. maybe with the 2.2, or a different engine that might hold true, but just because the coolant is leaking into the oil doesn't mean that the engine is shot. i changed a friends head gasket before that was doing that, and he actually had me drive it to where i had to take it to to get it fixed for him, and it had milky oil. that was back in october, and the car is still running just fine. maybe we got lucky, but that is the reason i argue what you say.




Goal is to make my N/A Auto faster then a manual without doing engine internals

Heya Damanii Dazz, How long have you been driving youre ride with the cyl head like this?, Well I just did a cyl head gasket on 89 dodge shadow it has 2.2L 4 cyl, In which Cavalier 2.2L is pretty well the same, If you havent drivin the car to hard or long period time, You should be ok. Its true though when youre cyl head gasket goes it does cause alot of stress on the bottom end of the engine. Youre looking at $1200 for a complete RE&RE worst case with a machanic doing it, If youre gonna do it $850,.You want to get a new cyl head to be on the safe side, Even though you get the machine shop to pressure test it those alum heads could be warped and have hair line cracks in the valve ports. In which then you got to rip the engine apart again spend $$$$. For the same issues. Make sure youre rad is in good shape, Plugged rad could cause you HD gasket to fail.

Good Luck keep us updated.

I cracked my 2.3 head a mile from my house. I got milky oil. And my new bearing that had 6 miles on them were shot. The bearing won't disapear in 1 miles but they will be damaged. The engine can still run no problem.

There will be damaged to the bearing but to see the damaged, you'll have to open the engine.

Yes you can just change the gasket, flush the oil and forget about it but the damaged is there.



Gilles
2.3 Ho

The car has been sitting since. The reason why i checked the oil is the check engine light came on on startup when we were trying to get the air out of the radiator. Damn $1200, thats the same price i paid for the car. I talked to my pops and he wil do it when he gets the time. Still might cost me an arm and a leg. Thx guys. Will keep ya'll posted.

I cracked the head in my beater, a '85 mercury lynx, and had water in the oil on a motor that already had worn out mains. Oil pressure actually goes up a little when you let off the gas so I'm pretty sure the crankshaft has got some play in it. Well long story short I put a remanufactured head on and have put about 15,000 hard miles on it since. I don't know about other engines, but that slow azz 1.9L is one tough SOB and is smooth as silk even after all it's been through. I trust it way more than my '99 Cav.

I'm hoping you have just as good an outcome, and a head shouldn't be too much if its fubar considering its just an OHV head.

rich weeks, how do you figure $850 if he does it himself. the last head gasket i did the head was actually ruined if i rememeber correctly, and had to be replaced, and everything was checked out etc, and that only cost like $350 for 2 heads. new head bolts, and the head gasket kit, new oil, coolant, etc, so i can't imagine $850.

mfk, i know what you mean by the damage is there even though you can't see or tell.




Goal is to make my N/A Auto faster then a manual without doing engine internals

I'm doing a gasket on a 97 2.2 for a guy I work with. To have the head pressure checked it's costing him $30 and if it's still good it'll be machined to take any warp out, another $30. Then you have the gaskets, bolts, coolant, oil, etc. No way that all costs $800 or more. If he needs a new head, that's a different story, but even then a head won't cost that much if you can get a good used one.

I changed my friend's sister's HG on her 97 2.2 about 4 years ago. When I diagnosed it, it had milky oil... two weeks later (and about 800km) I changed the gasket for her, along with oil and coolant (of course.) Like I said, that was four years ago, and she's put about 120,000km on the car since... no metal in her oil, no bearing noises. Maybe we got lucky, I don't know... maybe other people who have siezed their engines weren't very lucky... I can't say.


_________________________________________________________________

Sometimes it's easier to do things the hard way.


1997 Pontiac Sunfire SE 2-door

coolant in the oil doesn't neccisarily seal the engines fate. my brothers headgasket blew in his neon at about 175K miles and he's since put on over 50k miles on a new HG and it works just fine. and Damanii Dazz...depending on how far you are from pittsburgh, i may be able to help you change the headgasket or engine if you get the parts, if your within 3 hours or so from me. im willing to make the drive to help out another jboer. just lemme know. i have experince with headgaskets, theyre not too bad


You'll never touch God's hand
You'll never taste God's breath
Because you'll never see the second coming
Life's too short to be focused on insanity
I've seen the ways of God
I'll take the devil any day
Hail Satan

(slayer, skeleton christ, 2006)

Thanks Mike, that is very considerate of you but unfortunately i live in Va. When i get the time, i will just get the Headgasket changed, change the fluids and see what happens. Hopefully my engine is still in good condition.