1997 Sidekick Sport

[fixkick]

I get a white/ gray smoke from exhaust.  I shut engine off. 

it is super cold now outside, 
the cold engine makes steam seen on all cars started cold , and more when cold outside.
but once the engine is full hot, no steam can be seen (its just too hot to see)
but on a  blown head gasket (or the like) the water jackets vent water to the combustion chamber and steam happens at the tail pipe end no matter what.

watch your neighbors car see how long it takes their car to stop steaming at cold start up.
yours must be the time, time wise.

if the water jackets and Rad are 50% AF,
and you then sniff that exhuust plume.
if it smells nasty sweet  that is , glycol smell, in the exhaust, and not good at all.

The tail pipe smells like burning oil that is what that is.
if not sure, take the dip stick and drip one drop of oil on the hot manifold and learn what your oil smells like.
sweet and nasty is GLYCOL (AF)
gas burns and makes H20  as by product of combustion(clean steam) but not GLYCOL, ever.

huge wreck in Dallas,  100+ cars. not safe here. 
good luck to you !!!!

lets do overheating from scratch.  all signs and tests. it's not hard, seen them all.(old dog) <<< 17 signs of overheating here.

the engine ias this great feature built in called 14psi AF (antfreeze coollant) pressure.
the RAD cap must be good, if the rubber seal under cap looks ok 99.9% of the time the cap is ok,  the rubber seal can crack or be missing but the spring there just does not go bad or go magically away, most the time.
CAP off see no carbon dust or oil floating on top of AF green fluid here (if green not red/orange/yell brands of AF fluid) bad  news this and so simple to do.

If the CAP works (raD) THE TOP HOSE ON THE RAD GETS HARD ,(not soft) with 14PSI inside, after say 15minutes of cold startup. (or longer  now in ARCTIC BLAST week)

this fact is #1, for getting fully AF protection up to 160F, lacking 12-14psi, or 0 PSI , the boil point is 240 (50% AF) 212F with pure water and hopeless that for sure.

if the systems does not hold pressure this is FIRST order hard failure. that must be corrected first. always,  (no hard hose top ever this is  bad news.
OK it does hold pressure or not,  the next to know is that pressures will cause AF to land on the garage floor, a GREEN puddle.

if you see green puddles we then find the source, water pump , hose, or OMG leaking down side of head as head meets the block (gasket head point, all 4 sides)
or freeze plugs leaking all sides.  (aka. casting plugs or expansion plugs) names do not matter only LEAKS now.
Pump leaks. water, no leaks on the ground allowed,  side tank not over 1/2 full ever. (as is done after full AF service, cold)

the hoses leak under pressure,  all  bad hoses leak at 14PSI, and is DRAMATIC,
passenger floor soaked in AF is bad heater core in dash,  and again hopeless now,  or use by pass hose at fire wall easy never bock it , bypass it  a must if leaks now (for fix later)
if the AF coolant loop does not hold pressure  and no green on the ground what is next

well the dipstick is next,  oil looks like  clear amber oil, not like chocolate milk,(bad) or like this is horrible bad (my cracked block main bearings)
the purple colors above are links. to click..

the oil cap front of engine top , comes off , and ignore odd foam under cap lid, but do look deep in to VC valve cover,  see valves there and see normal oil coolers there, not milk color.
if yes the engine has  bad head gasket or block/head is cracked.
keep in mind some heads have freeze plugs on some even inside engine on top of head, so.... looking for that can find those rusted through. ( i see none in J18 up) just G16s.
look to front bottom of engine at pulley base rear to see no GREEN DEATH THERE. (g16 has hidden freeze plug  front top ,not sure J18)

that is about all you can do with just eyeballs, sure lots.
now testing
compression test. wot, throttle blocked and at least warm engine not fully hot needed.

the magic rad cap leak down test.
the more magic, chem tester for exh. found in RAD NECK, cap off. see first link of this post for that.