my 1995 tracker 1.6 16v just turned 86,000 miles. it's NEVER given me a stich of trouble until yesterday.  i was driving into work and the engine just started sputtering like a spark plug was missing.  and a very slight loss of power.

today i checked the throttle body...all clean.  the K&N filter was ok...not dirty enough to worry about.  then i got to the plugs.

they are a year old and have just very normal wear on them...nothing out of the ordinary.  BUT, the spark plug closeset to the fire wall and the one next to it were damp!?  i replaced the spark plugs with new ones and the sputtering continues and now a good amount of smoke is wafting from under the exaust manifolds heat sheild, and i smell Anti-freeze.

anyone know what this may mean?  is my motor toast?  or is this something fixable?  i haven't drove it since this started so any wear this problem may cause is minimal.  i'm taking it a local chevy dealer this monday.  but if it's something i can fix, i rather save the $100 they plan to charge "just to look"

plaese help me i don't want to have to lose my Trackkick.  thanks ahead for any help guys.

Sounds like your head gasket is toast,Same thing happened to my Trooper II a few years ago on my way back from the Rubicon.
You should get it fixed right away to prevent any more damage to your engine.

Good luck!!

I would say it is a head gasket first guess. but there are heaters in the intake system that use antifreeze,the I dle air valve has one and there is one inside the intake tube on top of the valve cover,I had a leaking Idle air valve and picked up a used one, parts are real spendy new on these.

yeah my very first guess was head gasket.  but, i decided to go with the easiest to fix first. Now this smoke thing came up, just tonight.  didn't see any smoke when it started, or just didn't notice it.

would a blown head gasket cause moisture in the motor?  i can honestly say i have no previous experence with bad head gaskets so i wouldn't know the symptoms if it bit me in the butt.  my Samurai's 1.3's never lasted long enough to blow a head gasket   and my last 8V sidekick was too new.  so this type of wear is new to me.    
this is also my first 16v Zuk so i'm lost on it.

i was starting to get worried that it may be a water pump or something.  But, i sure hope it's just a head gasket.

oh and i checked that anti-freeze inlet in the intake tube and it's fine...so thank God it's not that.

You could check your oil for milk,get a pressure pump for the cooling system and see if it drops pressure and pull your plugs out if it does. p.s. if you over heat a 16 valve the head will crack.

it's not overheated at all so thankfully that hasn't happened.  i intend to do an oil change/check tommorow before i do the head gasket replacement.  and come to think of it my radiator was full when i did a beif inspection of the engine bay before working on the car and the overflow resivor was right on the full line so maybe it's nothing.  it's possible it's burning run off from the bit that dumped out of that line to the intake when i pulled the that tube off.

just didn't think THAT much spilled out.  but could explain why i never noticed the smoke before.  but it's about 300 miles till it's ready for it's next oil service so it needs it anyway, so we'll see if it's a milkshake then or not i guess.

You need to give it to me immediatly. Get as far away from it as possible. I am trained to deal with these kinds of zooks.......

well, i just looked at my Haynes repair manual to get an idea on how to replace the head gasket    holy cow i basically have to dismantle the entire motor just to do it.  remove both manifolds, timing belt and everything in between, i just figured an easy afternoon of wrenching....but this involves more time than i have right now.  wow, gotta find a mechanic i guess.

Yeah there's a bit to pulling the head but you don't need to remove the intake manifold or exhaust manifold but do get a chain wrench to hold the crank pulley when undoing the crank bolt.

the same thing actually happened to me ... i brought it to a mechanin and he did the work ....  from what i remember i think he said some wiring had gone bad or the computer and the plugs and cap coil and rotor needed changing....not a 100    percent of what he said cause it was a while ago if that helps

                                                         -mo

well hope it's not that, i did a full tune up in November and replaced all that.  it's been running fine.  if it's a computer or something too serious i'll have no choice but to garage it and get something else till i have time and $$$ to mess with it.

thank you all guys.

Nah, it's not the computer.   Could be a few of the things listed above, but not the computer.