My son has just purchased
If the whiff you catch has a sort of sickening sweet smell it is most likely coolant, and the most likely source is a blown head gasket. Against the possibility that you may not be entirely familiar with car mechanically, let me explain.
Your engine has two major parts--a cylinder head and a block. The cylinder head, as the word head suggests, sits on top (unless your engine has a horizontally opposed design like the old beetles, Subaru's and a number of the porches, but we need not go into that). In any event, the cylinder head contains the valves and the assemblies that operate them. The block contains the pistons, crankshaft, etc.).
Where they are joined, there is a gasket that provides a seal between the two components and it is called the head gasket. It is designed with a number of holes in it to allow oil and coolant to pass between the head and the block in separate journals or tubes. When something happens to the gasket, either a piece of it is blown out due to age or pressure, or a gap develops between the two machined surfaces of the head and block that allows the coolant and/or the oil to escape from their separate passages, it is said that the gasket is "blown." In fact that is something of a misnomer, as really the gasket is only blown if in fact a piece of it has physically been "blown" out. Often as not, what has really happened is that the head or sometimes even the block has become slightly warped, or one or more of the head bolts that hold the two together is improperly tightened (torqued) and has allowed a gap to develop, while the head gasket itself is still relatively in tact. Still, the gap is allowing the fluids to escape their intended paths. Left long enough in this condition, the unsupported gasket will be subjected to pressures from the escaping fluids and the combustion chambers that may also be leaking into the gaps to actually damage the gasket, but often if it is caught early this can be minimized.
Now, as to what do do.
First, pull your oil dipstick and see if there is any unusual sludge, foam, muddy brown , or actual antifreeze on it. This is one means of determining if you have a blown head gasket, as it will signal that there is coolant in the oil.
Second, with the engine cold, open the radiator cap and look for evidence of muddy brown sludge or even oil floating on top of the coolant. Again, this would be evidence of a blown head gasket.
you will have to get it checked.
This will help.thanks.please do rate the solution .thank you for using fixya.keep updated.thanks.
