5 Signs of a Bad Engine

5 Signs of a Bad Engine

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A bad engine?

Think you have a bad engine?

Here are five key areas to investigate to see if your bad engine has blown a head gasket, has a cracked head, or cracked cylinder block.

Exhaust

Your exhaust will present one of the common signs of a blown head gasket. When you have a gasket leak, you will notice white smoke coming out of your tailpipe. Sometimes drops of water will drop from the end of the tailpipe. The exhaust will also have a sweet smell to it.

Bubbles

Bubbles are also one of the signs of a blown head gasket. A gasket leak may cause bubbles of air to come into your radiator. To check for this, you should first remove the radiator cap then warm up the engine. When you rev the engine, you will see bubbles come out from the top of the radiator.

Oil

One of the next signs of a blown head gasket is contaminated oil. You may notice a milky ring surrounding your oil cap. This is caused by coolant entering the engine oil through the leaking gasket. This mixture leaves the milky ring around the oil cap when it evaporates. You can check for this by taking the car for a short drive, then checking the oil for contamination.

used enginesEngine

Lack of engine power is also one of the signs of a blown head gasket. The engine will lack power because of compression loss. The engine will also run poorly and will idle roughly. You should also be careful because the engine will overheat quickly when you have a blown head gasket.

Spark Plugs

The spark plugs will present one of the last signs of a blown head gasket. If you have green coolant in your system, the spark plugs may have a green tint around them. If the problem is very severe, the coolant may start squirting out of the plug holes.
These are the most common signs of a blown head gasket. One of the most noticeable is white smoke coming out of your tailpipe. You will also notice that your oil has been contaminated with coolant that will form a milky ring around your oil cap. If you see any of these signs of a blown head gasket, you should stop driving your car and get it fixed. If you don’t, the engine may easily overheat and may cause an expensive repair bill.

Watch Scotty Kilmer’s Youtube Video on How to Tell if your Engine is Worn Out

3 Signs of a Bad Alternator

Top 3 Signs of a Bad Alternator

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  1. One of the immediate things that you may notice is that the lights on your dash and inside your car dim at random times and then seems to work again. When this happens you may notice that your engine acts strangely too. This is one of the classic warning signs of a bad alternator. This is because the alternator is beginning to fail and is intermittently not putting out enough juice to power the car.
  2. You may find that you have to repeatedly jump start your car after turning it off. This indicates a possible bad alternator. As long as your battery is in good condition and isn’t too old then this problem generally points to your alternator. This is because the alternator isn’t providing enough electricity to properly charge the battery and it runs down while you are driving and doesn’t have enough power to restart your car. Don’t ignore a problem like this or you will prematurely wear out your battery or become stranded someplace.
  3. A noisy alternator is another warning sign that it is going bad. This is because the bearings inside go out and you can usually hear this when your hood is open. The sound will be coming from the area where your serpentine belt and alternator are and will sound like a sort of rattling spinning noise. It will be loud enough to make you wonder if something is wrong. If your engine is stalling completely, that is one of the signs that your alternator is almost completely dead. Make sure that you don’t drive your car in this condition and have a mechanic or technician check it right away. This means that your alternator is so shot that it can’t even keep the car running and is one of the last warning signs you will get before you can’t even start your vehicle.