Hi everyone,
On Christmas day my car would not start (14 degrees out), I did what the manual said and held the starter in for 10 seconds and then didn't try again for another 10 seconds; after about 4 tries of 10 seconds of holding in the starter it started but THEN it started to idle rough and alot of white smoke was coming out of my exhaust. I turned my engine off and checked the oil, the oil was in the middle of the levels BUT when I did check the oil there was ice(like chunks/ice formation) on the dipstick. That was one problem that could be related to this: also frozen on the dipstick was a foam at the top of the dipstick. People have been telling me that moisture is getting into my oil and that I may have a cracked head gasket.

Any other experiences of this for anyone else/any ideas what is going on?

Thanks

P.S. I didn't start my car the day before and I drive it almost everyday. I don't move it in and out of a driveway w/o running if for a little and revving to 3000 rpms. It is parked outside.

 

The foamy stuff on the dip stick is probably just a little emulsified oil/condensation. A known phenomena and nothing to worry about. The condensation probably froze due to the cold temps.

The smoke you mention is most likely due to burning off of the gas and oil that accumulated in the engine due to flooding. Not to worry unless it continues to smoke after running awhile.