Head Gasket Replacement
What is a head gasket?
The head gasket maintains a seal between the engine block and cylinder head. It prevents oil, coolant and combustion gases from escaping the engine.
How does the head gasket work?
Most engines have two major components: the engine block and the cylinder head. These two halves must seal to one another and act as one piece, or the engine will fail.
The head gasket is a sealing layer of durable material that is sandwiched between the cylinder head and engine block. When tightened down, the cylinder head crushes the head gasket into the cylinder block, causing any imperfections to be sealed by force.
Head gasket failures are often due to an overheated engine, but can also be caused by high mileage and/or age.
An early sign of a failing head gasket will be a rough running engine when you first start the vehicle, especially if it's been sitting overnight. The rough running will generally last for only a few seconds.
Common cylinder head symptoms
A leaking head gasket or cracked cylinder head will often leak engine coolant into the oil, causing a "chocolate milk" like appearance and the oil level may be higher than normal.
Failed head gaskets or damaged cylinder heads can cause engine coolant to leak into the combustion chamber, producing a white, sweet-smelling smoke from the tail pipe.