sleepertib

So I think I need to replace my head gasket. I've got white smoke coming out of the exhaust, which I know means I'm burning coolant. I'm certain there are no leaks anywhere, cause there are no puddles or anything under the car when i've parked it. How hard is it to do? Is it worth doing myself, or is this one of those things I should just have a shop do? I'm mechanically inclined, and I hate having a shop work on my car, but I don't want to get in too deep here. How hard would you guys rate this?

Alex01tib

It's certainly not the easiest thing to do, but thankfully we have a 4 cylinder where everything is straight foreward and relatively easy to get to, try doing it on a 6cyl transverse FWD compact car, whoa.

youll have to take apart the head obviously, which includes taking off the exhaust manifold and intake manifold, make sure you mark the timing belt and try not to turn the engine in the middle of the process to make things easier. Shouldnt be too bad, depending on your mechanical abilities, everyone says "somewhat mechanically inclined" so its tuff to tell what degree of difficulty you can handle without actually being you.

SR Tech

The I4 is as easy as it gets, your main concern is the timing. Like alex was saying mark the belt. Make sure you have a torque wrench. I'd go for it, if anything you will understand your motor a bit more.

sleepertib

that's what I figured. Webtech has decent pictures and guidelines to do it too...thanks for the advice on the timing belt though. It doesn't mention that... cool.gif

HyundaiKitCoupe

I have a similar problem with the elantra and my tiburon. No white exhaust, cars run great, no leaks or traces.135k on both cars. Coolant just disappears and I have to refill the container every 2 months... Where on earth is this fluid disappearing off to?

Stocker

Does it boil out the overflow? put a cup under the overflow pipe and see if it ends up full. Running warm eh.

Sleepertib: It's not that bad, mostly a bunch of bolts. Do your homework first and you'll be out all of $60 for a head gasket, plus maybe intake and exhaust manifold gaskets.

Get a can of penetrating oil if you don't have it. Seriously.

HyundaiKitCoupe

i'll check if it boils out, but from what i'm aware of no it does not. there used to be small fluid spots in the driveway from the elantra, but not anymore for a long time and since early this year there has been no signs of any leaks. both waterpumps were replaced with new ones at 120k.

the only thing i can think of with the elantra is it smells like burnt fluid outside when you turn it on and off but still no white smoke and nothing while driving.

both cars run fantastic and maintain fantastic temperatures though... thanks for the help by the way.

HyundaiKitCoupe

so i noticed three huge wet spots on the driveway today that weren't drying up. sure enough you're right. coolant just spewing out of the overflow pipe. i noticed the spills right from under there and the tip of the pipe was all wet and that area all wet with coolant.

engine temp seems to be fine, fans work fine, but i did get rid of my vented EVO hood so it's a stock hood with maintec GT headers. the engine bay does get hot but i can't imagine it being that much hotter than any other car.

i filled the reservoir up two days ago and now the coolant it is halfway full now. I did overfill it. I am worried because i did drive to florida with a non-working waterpump and overheated the engine. could it be a cracked cylinder head or cracked head gasket?

uuugh, more problems i've caused. commme tooo meee endless problems, i summon thou!

Stocker

The radiator cap might be a place to start. A new one, not one from the other busted car... They do fail eventually, you know.

Try one and let us know how it turns out.

Don't summon endless problems, you just might get owned.gif lmao.gif