Confused

Ok, I have a 94 3000gt. Here is the situation:
I have had the car for a couple of months and had no issuses with it until about two months ago. My thermostat shot up above H so instantly I pulled over and checked everything. All my fluids were fine so I checked my hoses thinking maybe it had a kink in it or something and of course everything was ok. I got back in and cranked it up and it was back to normal. Which made me think it was the thermostat itself, probably stuck. So I took care of that...or so I thought. It did again a couple more times this time though I was low on fluid so I filled it up and went on my way. Now all of this happened during warmer weather, once it cooled off I had no issuses with it at all. Which leads me to think my car thinks it's a turbo and likes cold weather better or it's just insane. Now here's the crazy part, it has sinced warmed up where I am at and once again I have problems with it all over again. But this time it is something different. The other day I noticed white smoke coming out of my exhaust. When I checked it it was water but it was only coming out of the exhaust on the driver's side and the other set of exhaust was bone dry. Which makes me think it might be the head gasket. My temp gauge will also creep up a little bit but nothing beyond normal.

If anyone has some sort of clue as to what it going on with my car I would greatly appreciate it. This is a project car and I knew work would have to be done. I just want to make sure it is the right work that is being done.

To all who can help thanks in advance.

your right, its probably the head gasket....the white smoke out of the pipe is a good giveaway

Thick white smoke? Definately a head gasket. Check te oil see if tere is white milky fluid which indicates a blown head gasket as well.

well that's what I thought but i just wanted to make sure before doing something wrong. Also would it be blowing white smoke all the time or just at idle?

quote:

Also would it be blowing white smoke all the time or just at idle?

It depends on how bad the headgasket leak is. In some cases where it's just starting to trickle coolant into the combustion chambers, there are NO obvious signs out of the tailpipe. The only thing the customer notices is a mysterious loss of coolant and major white smoke upon startup. In other cases, it can leak so bad that the engine will blow a white smokescreen haze while driving down the road even at high RPM.

Joel, CA

thank you very much...that's pretty much what it seems to be doing but i'm kinda new to workin on cars hands on and i don't want to make it worse that what it is.