help identify car issue

[xc3ssive]

Hey guys I'm looking for some insight before I actually take my car to a repair shop.

 

This is whats going on.

 

The car is really hard to start without pushing the gas pedal down a couple of times then it has a rough idle but goes to normal AFTER it's blown a huge amount of white smoke from the exhaust that was a weird smell, does not smell burnt tho.

Also while I'm driving the temperature of the car fluctuates from 1/2 way to cold to RED. I'm freaked out because I don't know what the issue seems to be. It just started like a week ago.

 

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

[Xeryon]

White smoke in the exhaust is commonly caused by the burning of anti-freeze. Check your coolant and your oil to find if there is any mixing of the two fluids. When they mix they usually form a dark-ish milky coloring. You may be dealing with a damaged head gasket. The hard-start can be a symptom of a blown gasket that hasn't blown out enough to be inoperable but just enough that there isn't enough compression to start correctly. The wild temp fluctuations are another tell-tale sign as well.

 

There are other possibilities but start by checking those fluids and we can go from there.