On my way home from work, just out of the parking lot, my 06 jcw started bellowing white smoke out the back of the exhaust. Became so bad I pulled over but it seem to subside. I drove it home and it didn't do it again until tonight but before, I changed spark plugs, coil, wires, oil and filter. I was looking to see if the oil had coolant and hence maybe a blown headgasket but it wasn't milky at all. When I started it up after the oil change etc.. it was just as bad a earlier in the day. It seems to do it after it sits for a couple hours and before heating up to normal temp.

Things I've checked:

Oil for coolant contamination - appears fine
bad plugs - change
Coolant for oil contamination - I just checked the over flow bottle and it's essentially empty. :( Dunno if thats because it's hot from driving it after I did all the maintenance? I would think some coolant should be in there even if it was hot. Next question is where the heck did it go and why is my idiot gauge not going past the normal if it's getting hot? The fan is coming on a lot now though. Even after a quick trip around the block...when you turn it off, the fan comes on and stays on for roughly 5 mins. Never heard it do that before.

Anyway, I'm starting to think I have a blown head gasket but I've never seen one blown without contamination. Is that possible? I do notice lots of condensation coming out (drips of water) of the exhaust tips but it doesn't smell like coolant.. more like burnt something.

Thanks for the help.

-Ken

 

Blown head gasket... just my 2 cents.

That would explain both the white smoke and low coolant level.
I've seen a few where no significant "milky oil" was visible.

I would have it checked out asap.

 

Have a Hydrocarbon test done and you will know if you have a possible blown head gasket.

 

Hopefully just a headgasket....
Remember...the gasket seperates 3 things...oil, coolant, and the combustion chamber..
Depending on where the gasket fails, the oil may or may not get contaminated...
It sounds like you are burning coolant....most likely cause blown headgasket imo..
But a cracked block or head is possible.
The overflow tank low/empty cause it went out your tailpipe....
Fan is running cause coolant is low/motor running hot..same result.
oil only gets frouthy when contamination is very bad...just a little,oil will look ok, but dammage is still occurring.

 

Thanks for the replys. I'll have to take it to a shop to get the tests done. Hopefully it's just the gasket but if it's the head, I'll likely seize the oppurtunity to move to a performance head.

 

keep us posted.