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- White smoke = coolant inside the cylinders = blown head gasket as you suspected.
- "sounding like a muscle car" = at least one cylinder is not combusting properly which could mean various things; loss of compression, no spark to name a couple.

It sounds like something has gone terminal, but before you think all is doom and gloom, do the usual spark plugs, and spark plug leads check. You MIGHT be lucky and find a plug has either come loose and/or deteriorated, although the white smoke is a very ominous sign.

How many kilometres has your car done?, and what would you say is the condition of the engine, ie. how well maintained is it?

I'm guessing you are from the US?

that sort of mileage isn't huge and by itself usually not an indication that things will go awry. But then again, it may have had a hard life and lots of high-revving abuse.
Strong gas smell is also a bad sign.

- Check the under-side of the oil filler cap for signs of coolant (white residue)
- check the dipstick to see if you can ascertain if there is fuel in the oil. Smell it and see if you can tell if its less viscous than normal oil.
- check inside the radiator for oil and fuel contamination.

If you see any signs of the above, then fair chance you are right and head gasket has gone.

If white smoke, sluggishness, rough idle etc continues, then that pretty much confirms it.

Ahem, spark plug leads? EDIT; not likely.
The OP sounds like he is in America ie. Miata, miles, gas.
256,000 kays is getting a bit high.

miataliker wrote:after flooring it just on first gear i stopped.

done this often?

miataliker wrote:...The car started to idle and sounded like a muscle car. ..

Could be a coil pack.

What City,Suburb do you live in

Easy fix for you then - stick an LS1 into it.

Hey there - sorry to hear about the car troubles.....

As you are based in the good ole US of A, and although it doesn't sound as though your car is running boost, jump on www.miataturbo.net - plenty of helpful people (just make sure you post up and say hi - be polite, make sense, and they won't eat you like a breakfast noobie) and there might be some local assistance to help you diagnose the problem.....

Or is you like egos of an even bigger size, www.miata.net (the big site) is worth the challenge..

Good luck

miataliker wrote:Thanks bro. But i post threads on there already

Yeah stick with this forum. We are a nice bunch of guys and gals, and some of us actually know what they are talking about and dont feel the need to change their avatars on a daily basis and have strange hieroglyphics in their signature to make ourselves sound important.

Okibi wrote:

miataliker wrote:...The car started to idle and sounded like a muscle car. ..

Could be a coil pack.

no chance,

do you run water or coolant in your cooling system?

the reason i ask is
if you run water your looking at a head gasket, if you run coolant you've most likely got head corrosion, unless you overheated the car at some stage & cracked a head... id say 1 of the first two & im putting my money on option 2, check what plugs/ cylinders have water in them & report back to us....

p.s welcome

I'm still not gonna rule out the coil pack.

Okibi wrote:I'm still not gonna rule out the coil pack.

if your right i'll personally post my spare packs i have to him

Forgot to add that it could just be a loose or damaged set of headers or a loose 02 sensor, that'd explain the loud exhaust noise and smoke in the engine bay, the O2 sensor could be getting mixed readings making it run funny too.

If he's running boost, it may have momentarily overboosted, which can throw out the EGR pipe.

have a look at the top of the cam cover for a rubber bung which is missing, then if it is, look for a rubber hose with one end going nowhere, and push it inot the hole.

I had something similar happen to my SP.
It was running great, then once when I put my foot down, it made a pop sound and all of a sudden, I had no power.

Checked under the bonnet, and low and behold, the EGR pipe had popped out.
Just pushed it back in, and it ran beautifully again.

Always look for the cheapest thing first.

Also possible is that one of the pipes going into or out of the intercooler has gone astray and needs to be put back in place.

you mean PCV pipe/valve Benny if it goes into the rocker/tappet cover - dont know why you woudl want hot exhaust gasses mixed with your oil system???? besides all EGR pipes are metal, no rubber parts at all, and are screw on pipes not push on....

Do a compression test if you think it may be head gasket (cylinder leakinto water gallery), or if you think it is electrical isolate each plug lead while it is running and see if the miss gets worse..

if you don know - take it to a professsional mechanic