Q: Possilbe minor blown head gasket or warped cylinder?
Upon start up my car usually lets out ( sometimes it doesnt) a big puff of white smoke. This isnt the condensation. Somewhere around late last summer i did notice i had to top of coolanf . At first i thought it was consuming oil because of the mileage and i would have to add a quart a month. Back in early Dec i changed my oil and got a new drain bolt. Since then not a drop of oil has been missing. However, the smoke still persisted. Then i noticed every 3 weeks i have to add about 6 ounces of coolant. Other than the smoke and adding a cup of coolant a few weeks the car exhibits no other problems. I recently did a flush and cleaning thinking this would help. My question is since my car drives perfectly fine can i just continue to add coolant every few weeks or will this problem eventually get worse. I love my little car but i dont plan on investing too much money. I plan on driving it to it just dies. Any thoughts on a time line. Should i try adding one of those gasket sealers or im a better off leaving it alone?
My car has 120000 miles.
My car has a manual transmission.
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Checking for cooling system leaks is the first place to start. A certified technician can pressure test and/or add dye to the cooling system to pinpoint if there are any leaks. There can possibly be a leak that’s small enough to keep coolant from hitting the ground. It may just be evaporating from engine heat if it is a small enough leak. A minor coolant loss situation can stay that way or get worse all at once. There is really no way to tell when or if it would happen. As for adding any type of "sealer" to the cooling system, I would not. While they sometimes work in the short run, they typically lead to more problems in the long run.
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