Recently determined I have a blown head gasket. Coolant was entering the engine so I have the typical oil that is like a milkshake and white smoke. It started out as a small leak and it took me about a month before it finally got bad enough for me to determine it was a blown head gasket.

Anyway, my question is will coolant inside the engine cause engine damage. Someone told me that the coolant will eat away at the internals of the engine. That after I get the head gasket fixed that the engine will probably only last a year or so after I fix it. Is this true? Or will everything be fine once the gasket is replaced and the engine is flushed?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

Ive seen cylinder walls with just a little water on them scored deep enough to catch a nail on.

yes, it is true. my moms old Plymouth minivan blew it's head gasket, that engine died about 4 months later.

 

It's a crapshoot. If you catch it soon enough, most of the time it'll be ok. But running it for a month like that, and your engine oil turned to cutting oil... Sorry to say that I wouldn't trust it.

 

water does not lubricate very well at all, Take a close look at the cylinder walls on all the cylinders when you pull the head, you won't be able to see everything, but it will give you a good idea of where you stand. If you do decide to not have the motor done, I would do an oil change run it for a day and do another one.

 

Thanks for the replies... I was afraid the guy was right. Does anyone know why a head gasket will fail? I suppose there are many reasons but for me I've had two different cars in less than a year with blown head gaskets.

Can it be bad gas or maybe old coolant that eats away at the gasket? It is just weird that I've had two cars with the same problem. Hmmm.

 

its a common problem with 4 cyl cars.

 

cause is a porice head gasket material,thy now use multi layerad steel gasket,3 layers of metal,no mre problems!
another technique we use to flush oil out of the cooling system is use TIDE for the first run then flush twice.