2000 Chevy Cavalier 2.2 - coolant getting into combustion chamber - Head...

[phillip b]

...gasket looks fine, Ideas? I just bought a 2000 cavalier (2.2 non ecotech motor) yesterday thinking it needed a head gasket because it was burning a ton of antifreeze (also hard to start because of all the coolant getting on the spark plugs... and makes a ton of white coolant smelling smoke)

The lady I got the car from was the original owner and took great care of the car and it shows. Last week she was driving and smelled coolant and took the car to the garage. She said she did not overheat the car. The garage tested the coolant and found combustion chamber gases in the coolant (block test kit)

I removed the head, and the gasket looks fine. I sent the head out to an engine machine shop today to have it pressure checked because I thought that would be the next most common place coolant could be getting into the combustion chamber. I wont hear back from them until Monday though.

Few questions:
1. Can the head gasket be bad and look fine?
2. How would a head or block crack without the car over heating or the coolant freezing?
3. If the head comes back fine, how can a crack in the engine block be determined?
4. Has anyone run into this before? What did you find?

[archangel]

if you have the entire head and block magnafluxed they will determine where if any the cracks are and this can help you determine what you wish to do from there. it just might have a crack in the water jacket or a cylinder wall which is surrounded by water jacket! and yes you can have a good looking gasket and still have a leak due to a warped head!

[smokey]

just looking at a head gasket will not tell you if it is good