Thread: Help? Blown head gasket? 2000 Grand Prix SE

So I'm lost and can't find out what is wrong with this car I just bought. Or what I may have did to it.

I just bought a Pontiac Grand Prix SE 3.8 through a state auction. I've had it for about two weeks now.

Everything looked great; no engine codes or anything. Here's a short time line of events in the two weeks that I've had it.

Week 1 was great no problems drove it aggressively as I have with my last Grand Prix I would say and it held up fine. At the end of it I noticed what I'm sure was a misfire. Would happen once a day maybe.

Monday: Service engine light came on during my 22 mile highway commute home. Low coolant light came on while jumping my other car which I had to do in a quick manner. At 3k RPMs in park low coolant light came on and went off after I let go of the gas. Came back when ever car hit 3k RPMS on the highway when it shifted back below it'd go off. (I figured sensor)

Wednesday: Went to Autozone had code read it was the vehicle evaporation emissions code. He cleared the light and I figured it was the gas cap. I then checked the coolant. (It was all gone.) So I bought some coolant filled it all up and everything was well again. (The service engine light never returned)

Thursday: When I came to a complete stop (Doesn't happen as long as its rolling) and accelerated forwarded the car would jut or jerk. After noticing that I took it right home without coming to any full stops. The problem never reoccured. No engine lights came on.

Today: I was on the highway home some guy in the left lane was going slower than I wanted to be going. So I accelerated pretty hard and passed him on the left. After I was ahead of him and looked back I noticed white smoke billowing fairly well from my exhaust for a good 20 seconds and tapered off over the next 10. No engine lights came on.. Figured something minimal went through and continued my drive home. Fifteen minutes later I noticed my temperature light on. I was 2 miles away from home. Figured I'd drive on the shoulder going 30 with hood propped up and hazards on until my car's computer killed the engine. So I let it sit for 45 minutes and limped it home. After getting home and looking under the hood I noticed coolant everywhere. Roof of the hood, battery, cylinder block, even outside the hood under the windshield and all the coolant is gone. To some it up It's not leaking when I refilled it and let it sit. Hoses aren't an issue either.

Edit: Carfax report showed head gasket was replaced after a recall if that helps. I'm hoping its a hole in the radiator?

could be a bad lim gasket, or cracked upper intake or upper intake gasket.

how does it crank in the morning? nice and smooth? does it feel like its kicking a bit when you first crank it, i ask because the n/a engines hydro lock when the intake leaks. how the oil look? is milk shake looking? or just oil? as they also like to mix coolant into the oil, and we know how that goes, (boom)

the core may be air locked, and needs a flush to full it up with water, then the heat should work. maybe a heater hose has a cut in it and leaks only when it gets hot, when you take the hoses off the alt bracket, to flush the core, take a good look at the ends of the hoses for cuts or cracks, or plain old soggy ends that are loose fitting.

if all the hoses are ok, id pull the plugs out, and do a compression test. if you dont see coolant on the ground and see white smoke come out the tail pipes the engine is eating it.

White smoke under heavy load is either coolant going into the combustion chamber (Lim gasket, Upper intake failure, or headgasket) or a leak under pressure (Hoses, block heater, ect).... I had a rad cap fail closed and blew my block heater out 3 times before I figured it out. I would get on it hard and next thing I knew I was making a smokescreen and the person behind me learned what dexcool smelled like.