Nissan Repair: 1995 nissan altima, head gasket replacement, nissan altima

Question
I have a very big problem with my 1995 nissan altima. Over the past weeks I notice that in the mornings when I start it, it lets off a large plume of white smoke for a few seconds, then the smoke dies out. Now I have notice that  when the coolant goes into the overflow bottle, ( after driving to work about three miles) it does not get sucked back in the radiator. So every time I go to start it I check the radiator and I have to drain the coolant from the overflow bottle back in the radiator.My tempareture gauge  does not give me any indication that anything is wrong,it is alway normal.Would you by chance know why my radiator is running dry?

Answer
Sounds like you have a head gasket starting to leak.  When they first start it acts like what you describe.  On the white smoke it is the residual coolant that has leaked into the combusion chamber while the car sits.  Get a mechanic to perform a carbon monoxide check on the coolant.  Basically, they check to see if exhaust gas is getting into the coolant and that will tell you if the head gasket is really blown.  If you take care of it soon you might not get a cracked head in the process.  A head gasket replacement is much cheaper than a new head to go along with it...