Test drive, WTF?

[Burn]

Ok, so I spy a good project car Mazda MX6, that might be my daily driver, if it works out.....lol. SO I test drove the thing, mind you it has NO modifications of any kind, and it ran great, so I thought. When I got back to the lot, it was smoking white just a little around the front, so I poped the hood of course, and aparently, the guy said it's a shitty job on the front valve cover gasket thats leaking oil I little(sideways V6). Yeah. Ok, so how do I tell if this is a cracked block, or just a gasket? because if it is a gasket, I can do that in 10 min. There was no issues as far a driving the car, pickup was great, shifting was great, seriously no issues.

[Carbuff]

Can you have a mechanic check it out for you? Check online to see if this oil leak thing is common on that model. Its possible that its the crankshaft oil seal at the front of the engine. Is there oil all in the belts and on the hood too in that part of the engine? If so, that isnt a 10 minute job for sure.

[RobRR]

White smoke isnt oil, its coolant. And coolant doesent come from the valve cover.

[Carbuff]

What did it smell like? Did it smell like burned oil or coolant? They smell completely different.

[Misanthrope189]

Thanks RobRR, I was going to mention that. White smoke is the coolant, otherwise known as anti-freeze. Check for a lot of wet spots under the hood on and around the engine; if it's visibly smoking from under the hood, that means that anti-freeze, or coolant, is leaking out somewhere onto the engine and evaporating because of the heat. Does the car have a temperature gauge? It'd be good to know if the engine is heating up a lot, and how much coolant you're losing. Run the engine while you look under the hood and most often you can find where coolant is leaking from, as well. It could be a 5 dollar hose, or a loose connection, or a 200 dollar radiator.

Cheers,
Nick

[mm2002]

Hell, it don't sound like anything a can of bars leak won't fix!

[Burn]

NOt coolant, It was oil leaking from somewhere.... I just need to know if there are any tell tale signs of a cracked block, because I can not tell from driving it...

[fett]

You need to have a mechanic check it out. Don't tell him anything. If he's a straight up guy he'll tell what's really wrong. A car running strong on five of six cylinders will seem strong because you have nothing to compare it with.

[jjw]

it could be the rocker gasket-i had that go on my V6.If it sounds Ok-and is reving fine then it could be that(cheap repair).I also had the head gasket go on my last car(more money as more work) and that smoked like a bugger and didnt want to rev

[rjohnstone]

White smoke is burning oil... anti-freeze burns with a blue-ish white smoke.
Sounds like the valve cover or head gasket is leaking onto the exhaust.
Run a rag around the valve cover and the head gasket... look for fresh oil.
If it's a valve cover gasket, piece of cake... if it's a head gasket, forget it and take a pass. You'll have to pull the whole top of the engine off to fix it.
There's no tell tale signs for a cracked block short of visual inspection.
There is of course the full on split in a cylinder wall or water jacket, but that would be totaly obvious.

[jjw]

i would put money on it being the rocker gasket

[Tashtego]

just look for where the oil is coming from. Wipe around the valve cover gasket , take it for a drive again and see if you can find where the oil is leaking from. Cracked blocks and heads are almost always on the coolant passages.

[hippietim]

check the johnson rod.

[Misanthrope189]

I don't know guys, all the cars I've dealt with, oil burns blueish, coolant burns white. I'm not arguing, just telling you what I've seen with all the cars I've dealt with.

Cheers,
Nick

[rjohnstone]

check the johnson rod.

Is that right next to the muffler bearings?