Expert: Paul Cunningham - 6/14/2007

Question
My car was loosing water but not leaking it... then the car began blowing out white smoke bad through tail pipe.. I parked it I have now taken the whole top half of the motor off and the oil in it looks like sludge or putty .... there is very little water in it and the car never over heated can you tell me if this is the head gasket or something else and what is the best way to clean the sludge out of the block

Answer
You either have a blown head gasket or a cracked block or head.
Since you say it never overheated, it probably is the head gasket.
Have you removed the head, or just the intake and valve cover? If you have the head off, you can see where the gasket is blown and it will show "water tracks" in the cylinder where blown.
When you remove the "gunk" sludge from the engine, use a putty knife to scrape off all you can get, then get a couple cans of CRC cleaner or the equivalent, and spray it down good. Remember, you'll have to drain the oil pan to get the gook out. And change your oil filter, before adding new oil etc. (after re-assembly.