What happens when you "blow a head gasket?"?

Question

My husband thinks it is a good possibility my '98 Grand Am is going to "blow a head gasket." I really do not know what this means. What will happen. He said it is an explosion in my engine, will there be fire, shrapnel, smoke, or a loud noise? I am really worried about my car blowing up.

Answer 1

Often times when a head gasket blows there is little sign. But you will see a decrees in power and mileage, as well as other strange problems. common signs of a blown head gasket are water mixed in with the oil, this makes the oil look like chocolate milk. or oil mixed in with the water, Your coolant will look like it is contaminated with rust or you will have brown spots in the coolant. another sign is white smoke coming out of the exhaust system, not to be confused with bluish smoke. white smoke is basically steam. If this is happening then you have water getting in to the combustion chamber of the engine. This can cause a hydro lock situation on the engine. meaning the motor will cease to run. If the engine exploded rarely will it do any harm to you, however if the motor come apart bad enough it will leave debris on the road way causing problems to other cars. If for some reason you or your husband suspect that the engine is heading for a catastrophic failure please take it to a shop to where it can be properly analyzed. At this point the cost to repair it is low. If it gets to the point of a blown head gasket or a complete engine failure you will be looking in the 3 to 6 thousand dollar range for repairs. where right now depending on what your husband is hearing may only be in the 1500 dollar range. Take it to a shop tomorrow and have it checked out.

Answer 2

Blow A Gasket

Answer 3

This ain't Hollywood, honey. LOL. Nothing major, but when the gasket goes, it'll pass water into oil, vice versa, or out into the open air, depending on where the gasket lets go. Sometimes you'll see white smoke as the water and coolant get into the exhaust pipe and come out that way. Head gaskets blowing can be common on certain aluminum block engines.
Anyway, generally no loud noises, you'll just lose some power, maybe quite a bit, if it's between 2 adjacent cylinders that fire one after the other. Go check the Internet, in Search punch in Grand Am Head gasket blowing, and see what hits you get, and learn what may happen to your engine. You can usually find info on your year and model car this way, and potential problems. It pays to do some research! Good luck,
- The Gremlin Guy -

Answer 4

The head gasket get maintain two important parts of the engine leak tight. The cylinder block and the head.

Between these two parts there are multiple passages and cavities that carry, oil, water, fuel mixture and exhaust fumes.
A "blown" gasket will allow some or all of these different liquid and gases to escape and/or mix. Not good for the engine.

The engine will not explode or anything like that.

Answer 5

Your coolant and oil will mix if they head gasket blows. Do not use the car if you suspect this. When the oil and coolant mix the engine will seize up and will cost you tons of money in repairs.

There will not be an explosion or fire. The engine will just quit on you after it overheats. It will then never restart.

Your car does not seem old enough to blow this gasket yet. Why does he think it will do this?
Has he found coolant in your oil or vice versa?

Answer 6

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RE:
What happens when you "blow a head gasket?"?
My husband thinks it is a good possibility my '98 Grand Am is going to "blow a head gasket." I really do not know what this means. What will happen. He said it is an explosion in my engine, will there be fire, shrapnel, smoke, or a loud noise? I am really worried about my car blowing...

Answer 7

nothing going to blow or explode.LOL.
if you say in layman,s language is that,your cylinder head gasket is about to be burnt.
This could happen if you were running with empty radiator until steaming.rectify why this happened.
if could be hose leaks,radiator choked, thermostat faulty,water pump faulty or the v belt loose.
Once this gasket is burnt,your water gets oeverheating fast.in worst condition u find lub.oil contaminated with water and engine misfires.
Once this happens you must go for top overhaul and change the head gasket.
prevent if possible.

Answer 8

I don't know the circumstances of your husband's comment, but I will try to answer your question.

When your head gasket fails, you will lose compression, you will probably get oil in your coolant (and vice versa),
and have a major repair bill. But there will be no explosion.

Answer 9

I did that one time. I thought the car was on fire but it was simply steam from all the radiator fluid going into the engine. You couldn't even see the car at all. If your husband is a good enough mechanic to diagnose an impending blown head gasket, then he should be good enough to fix the problem beforehand.

Answer 10

The blown head gasket will usually leak between cylinders and may allow coolant into the cylinders.No,there won't be fire,loud noise,flying objects, but there will be white steam comming from the tailpipe.