General Maintenance & Repairs - helping out a friend -- blown head gasket

Ok, i dont know if this is the right place for this so mods, feel free to move it if it needs to be moved.

my one good friend drives an 02 chrystler sebring. He was driving around and he explained to me what happened.

1. white smoke coming from the front of the engine bay
2. thermostat shot way up and car overheated
3. you can see coolant leaking out of the bottom of the engine

he took it to one place and they told him it was a blown head gasket and wanted an assload of money to fix it. I told him to take it someplace else and get a second opinion b/c i thought it was a busted radiator (i'm mechanically retarded though)

the 2nd place he took the car too told him that he needed to replace some coolant pump ??

this thing:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a331/RobBarger/800px-2002_Dodge_Stratus_2.7L_DOHC_V6.jpg

anyway, what are the characteristics of a blown head gasket?

thanks in advance for your help

If there is coolant in the oil, oil in the coolant, coolant in a cylinder.

2.7 dohc, oh snapzzz :hail: :hail:

If there is water in the oil, it should be a milky brown color. That would lead to a blown head gasket. Try to find the source of where its leaking.

i'll tell him to check his oil and coolant