How do you know if you have a blown head gasket?

Hi there:
Pay attention. here is the most common symptoms a Blown Head Gasket are:
- Your car is overheating. You know it's not the Fan or Thermostat.
- White Smoke is coming out of the tail-pipe and it smells like Anti-Freeze being cooked.
- The car won't start:
* You have already verified it's not an Ignition System problem because you have Spark coming out at all of the Spark Plug Wires.
* You know it's not a Lack of Fuel, because you have verified that the Fuel Pump is delivering Fuel to the Fuel Injectors.
- The Engine Oil is thick and tan to off-white color.



Hope this helps.

After getting head off have it checked out and go back together with felpro gaskets and watch toqure settings.

Oil and coolant mixed usually means the engine is damaged.
Blown head gasket, or cracked block - head.
You may have coolant in the engine oil too.
I would not drive it.

if it is blown between piston and water it will cause dramatic loss of radiator fluid. if blown between piston and ouside u can probley see and hear little spirts of gass escaping at engine tickover.look at the engine the head gasket is about half way down the engine not always easy to see. be careful of hot and moving part. usualy caused by running ot of water and overheating

You can't tell untill you get it apart. and then some times you still can't see a crack. It needs to go to a machine shop to be checked. I send them all out to be checked when I do a head gasket replacement.

Blown head gaskets for sure, no way of knowing if heads are cracked without taking it apart, there no quick fix for this, only fix is to take it apart and repair as needed.

loss of compression or water in the engine oil that will produce white exhaust smoke

Often (but not always), a blown head gasket will also cause deposit of water on a piece of cardboard held an inch from the tailpipe output while the engine is running (when this is happening, it is likely that the catalytic converter has been ruined and the muffler will corrode in short order as well).

Sometimes drops of water will be seen dropping from the end of the tailpipe. Another clue: turn on the heater; often when the head gasket is blown an odor of antifreeze and synthetic rubber will emanate from the heater vents.
Many of the symptoms of blown head gasket can be caused by some other problem in the cooling system, without the head gasket being damaged. Conversely, other problems with the cooling system can cause a blown head gasket and/or warped head.

When checking for a blown head gasket, one of the most common tell-tale signs is a milky-gray ring around your oil cap. When coolant enters the engine oil through a crack in the head or through a blown gasket, it evaporates and leaves a milky ring around the oil cap. Another easy way to tell is to check your oil dipstick. Change your oil and pull out the dipstick. Make sure that you take note of how far up the dipstick the oil is. Top off your cooling system and fill your cooling reservoir to the top. Screw radiator cap back on and start engine. Run engine for about 20-30 mins. or until it reaches normal operating temperature. Allow engine to cool (engine must cool completely to get accurate oil reading!!). Check oil dipstick again. If the oil has a watery appearance and has risen noticeably up the dipstick, the you probably have a blown head gasket or a warped head. Also look for a dripping, sweet-smelling liquid coming out of your tailpipe. Any of the above symptoms could be the result of a blown head gasket. The easiest way to tell is with a compression meter. This replaces the spark plug and lets you know what compression each cylinder is running at. If your compression is abnormally low, then you have a blown head gasket or a warped head. (note: consult repair manual for appropriate compression of each cylinder.)

FIRST IF IT IS A BLOWN HEAD GASKET IT IS RIGHT COMPLICATED IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO...ME PERSONALLY.. YES I WOULD DEFINATELY GET THE FULL GASKET KIT..DON'T EVER DO ONE HEAD DO BOTH.. HAVE HEADS ONCE OF ENGINE TAKEN TO MACHINE SHOP TO GIVE FULL BATTERY OF TEST...

there are many was a head gasket can blow . sometimes they just leak to the outside sometimes they leak to the coolant and then it blows out your antifreeze. if you have a blown head gasket you will see it when you pull the head. and yes you should hace the head checked at a machine shop and install with a new head set never reuse a gasket .
later paul