my winter car just took a crap. i was driving it down I-65 and it wouldn't go any faster than 55. if i gave it more gas it just bogged down. next i looked in the rear view and saw white smoke, then it died. came back a few days later, started and it idled REALLY rough. finally after about 1 minute, it died and the dip stick shot up about 3 inches. tried again and got the same thing....but no white smoke. any ideas?

at first i thought head gasket, but now i'm not so sure.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm not sure about shooting the dipstick up, but it does sound like a head gasket. Is the radiator missing any water?

 

actually, i didn't look at the coolent level, but i did check the oil and it was a quart low....and also smelled 'burnt'

....i've never heard of the dip stick shooting up tho

 

On my 89 Merkur, when the crankcase was pressurized by an bad PCV it caused the dipstick to shoot up and spray oil all over. However the XR4Ti is a turbo car and yours is not therefore I would suspect that a head gasket or something is leaking. What does the oil look like? Take a compression test.

 

the oil is extremely black

 

Does it smell of gas? Also I would run a compression test. Do you have a gauge? I can lend you mine if you need to. On the condition that I can find it first.

 

no, it didn't smell of gas and i don't have a gauge. it sucks too because the car's 20 minutes away and i gotta bum rides to get there

 

white smoke = head gasket

 

YEP! Head gasket..
What kind of car is it,you said winter driver so it's not an F-body,right?

 

it's an 85 chevy celebrity. would a head gasket cause the dip-stick to shoot out???

 

In theroy it could...the crankcase could have filled up with a mixture of coolant and oil. Thats one route the mixture would vent.

 

what`s happened to your car is this one of your pistons has developed a hole in it or the ring lands have broken off the piston this will put oil in the combustion chamber and create white smoke

little oil burning =blue
lotsa oil burning=white

dipstick popping out=compression in the crancase(hole in piston)

 

Buy yourself a compression tester and try it out. If you are careful, you might even be able to return it.

 

85 Celebrity? 2.5L "Iron Duke" 4 cylinder by any chance? They are known for cracking the cylinder head... Just a thought. White smoke is coolant in the chambers 99% of the time, and a cracked head and/or a head gasket is the most likely cause.

 

thanks for all the posts. i think i'm going to have it towed to my house and tear into it on one of my breaks...but i will definately get a compression tester and let you know what i find.