White smoke coming from tail pipe(2006 Nissan Sentra 1.8s)

vladtherad

I've already checked the coolant and oil levels seem fine. Bought to shop nearby and they said was the piston rings and to replace is going to be 1200-1300 dollars. I'm looking for a second opinion. Do you guys have any other advice on what i can check for. I bought this car last year, haven't had a tune up yet. can it be the spark plugs that have gone bad?

thanks for your input in advance.

Mr_Shiftright

Not sure if your shop used X-ray glasses, but if not, they can't really know what's going on in the engine without proper testing---the results of which should be quantitative and readily available to you the owner.

Testing for a bad head gasket is pretty straightforward by using a cooling system pressure tester, applied to the system while extracting the spark plugs and looking for coolant on them, or in the cylinder (using a boroscope).

Testing for bad rings can be down by a Cylinder Leakdown Test.

If your shop has done neither of these tests, then they are probably guessing, and I wouldn't open up an engine based on a guess.