I'm new here so bear with me if I'm doing something wrong...

I have a 2006 Cobalt 2.2 with 150K + miles...

The check engine light has been on for about a year (please no lectures, I've had the computer reprogrammed 3x since I bought the car brand new so usually the lights/gadgets mean nothing). I know, I know.

Yesterday I was driving home from work and the oil light came on (red dash light, NOT the change oil notification), then immediately went back off. I drove the 2 miles to my house and checked the oil... sludge all over the dipstick and in the tube... wiped the dipstick and checked again, same amount of sludge was there.



From the little bit of research I've done... this looks REALLY BAD.

Cracked head, blown head gasket, or something else???

If anyone can help, please also include a price and/or the parts I would need so I could look it up myself. Need to know if I should just bite the bullet and buy a new car, or if this is something worth fixing.

 

Headgasket is gone dude
Pull the vavle cover, $20 says it looks the same on te inside



Take the vavle cover off, look for cracks or anything els around the head. After that remove the head itsself
To take a deeper look. Its not that hard i just did it on a 2.2 for my first headgasket repair ever. The machine shop was the longest part.
Look at everything, look for cracks , wear marks, all that ****


Needless to say, do not drive it again. Damage might mot be that bad, provided you didnt neglect this car and did oil changes and this is the first youve seen this sludge

 

Headgasket kit, with gaskets all the way around, bolts is around $200 and a machine shop is anotjer $200 to get the head shaved. After that, oil and coolant. Get a torque wrench and a heate garage, rest is peanuts. Oh ask your local dealer for a print of on how to do the headgasket, they give you torque specs, bolt order, everything. Timig is np

 

Bad news bears buddy

 

she a lady not a dude

 

engine might even be done, idk how you didn't notice this from other engine signs first.

 

if it looks that bad and its been driven that way, even a couple miles, I bet the bearings are going to be bad. Crank and rods burned. Would suck to do the headgasket only to then spin a bearing....

 

Had this happen to two vehicles in my life.

First one was driven like this for awhile and died, second one caught sooner and saved. Only issue is no way to know how long you've been driving it like this.

Oh and check your coolant as the oil can get into the cooling system and sludge it up as well.

 

You should be lectured about driving around for a year with a check engine light on, find the nearest man and have him scold you please.

Hope this helps OP

 

Headgasket. You will need to clean the motor out also. I suggest diesel and letting it sit for a few hours then draining it after you fix the head gasket.

 

Thank you for your very detailed response. If only I knew a mechanic here... Last time my friends touched my car the caliper hanger bolt fell out.

 

Only sign I had was the check engine light... Which came off and on when it felt like it. These computers are garbage.

 

Yeah I'd do that however my man doesn't even know how to change oil... I did it for a living thru high school so it wasn't that I forgot to do change the oil. This just happened all of a sudden... Which blows. And my birthday is tomorrow. 😡

 

My thoughts also. My computer has shut off engine power to 50% on the highway when there was a glitch... But no notifications, noises, heat, or changes and the motors all gummed up this bad?! WTH.

 

That's shocking that you couldn't tell that a head gasket was blown while driving. How wasn't the engine over heating? Were you loosing coolant?

 

Temp was 201 when I got home. Oil light flashed at about 2 miles away from where I stopped driving... haven't checked the coolant yet, but it definitely didn't overheat.

 

chance are the bearings on that motor are shot, there's no real way to tell how long you were running around with water in the motor oil. Your oil light would have turned on because of low oil pressure from it being too watery.

 

Find a reputable mechanic and take it to him.

 

Make sure they flush out the motor. I just did this to my 00 honda accord. After the fix, the car ran great but, you have to think about the muddy slug already in the motor. If you want to make sure it lasts, I would suggest doing what I said.

 

Thank you for the suggestion ... Additional question- should I use AAA to tow it ? Can it get to the shop 5-10mi away... I have 2 quarts of oil I can add if that's an option... I figure I'm already looking at $500-1000 to fix a $3000 car...

 

Thank you everyone for the opinions and expertise. Couldn't have asked for a shittier birthday gift than for this to happen... All the responses have alleviated some of the salt being dumped on the wound here. 💥🚘💥

 

amazing that car is holding it together, i'm impressed with the little thing.

 

With the mileage you have on that car I'd honestly be looking for a low mileage 2.2 to swap in instead of trying to fix that one...

You may be able to find a used 2.2l with lower mileage for a decent price and it'll be more peace of mind then tearing apart your current motor and finding more and more issues. Or better yet get a rebuilt one.

 

I know how it feels, when I got my very first car at the age of 16 years old wayyyyyy back, it was a 1995 cavalier z24 with a 2.3 quad4 motor, exactly the car i wanted, all black, couldnt have asked for a better used car for my age. I had the car for two weeks and im driving home from hanging out with some friends when all of the sudden i notice a huge plume of smoke coming from behind the car, and my coolant temps skyrocketed. Blown headgasket of course, my first experience with one. Sadly that was the end of that car as a year later after the headgasket was repaired, the rings and bearings finally took a **** from the abuse it suffered from having water in the coolant.

The internet however was not as much help as it is today and given your circumstances as long as you have some sense of being mechanically inclined, or know the right people, you can get your car back on the road and in tip top shape with relative ease.

 

This. Say F it to the motor and just get another. It'll come out way cheaper. Happy Birthday. lol