joshjf

cruising at 45mph on the expressway when suddenly my engine "bogs down" or looses power for a few seconds, then a huge cloud of white smoke plumes out of the tailpipe. Could not even see the car behind me. Kill the engine coast to the side of the road. Check the oil and find foam or air bubbles on the dip stick. Since I am not far from home, start the engine and drive home. Only able to slowly accelerate to increase speed. No real power to the engine. Temperature gauge normal. After the engine cools check the radiator every thing looks fine there. Just sitting again wondering what to do now. All thoughts welcome. Josh

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Drain the oil and see what it looks like. If it looks like a mocha milkshake, rebuild time. Take the radiator cap off and look for bubbles too.

lovintha7

White smoke is a huge indicator of coolant in the engine. The whitish foam is an even bigger indicator. I would check the coolant o-rings in the intake first, but more likely it's the coolant seals in the engine.

Does the exaust have a "sweet" smell to it? (I'm assuming you have 50/50 mix for coolant)

JIMMY54

iTrader: (2)

Same happened to me, but it would shake like crazy.

Chances are you will need to rip that motor open and just change the coolant seals.... Mine broke an apex seal probably cause I kept driving it

DublyDurty

Any chance you recently did an oil change and/or added oil? Too much oil will cause foam (it's just as bad as too little oil for an engine). Don't know if that can contribute to the smoke cloud though.

steve84GS TII

There will always be some bubbles in the oil,especially if you pull the dipstick immediately after the engine was running.The dipstick reads the top level of the oil resevoir,which is where the bubbles reside and dissipate.
What you dont want is a milky or cloudy look to the oil.It should be transparent and golden.Even if the oil is getting old and dark brown,it should still be clear and translucent.Water/antifreeze from a coolant leak mixes with the oil and creates an emmulsion which gives the oil that "milkshake" appearance the guys were mentioning.