So on my way to Tampa from orlando this weekend my car was in traffic and overheated. The car was low on coolant and the fan never came on and since no air was moving through the radiator i wasent suprised. Filled it up and didnt see any leaks. This morning while driving to school i looked in my rear view and see a bit of smoke (about 60 and damp outside). My thoughts were it was from the weather outside, when i got to school i opened the hood and it smelled like coolant, i saw a little bit bubbling out of the tube that goes to the resevior and the resevior went down a bit. But again no leaks, smells hot, smokes sometimes. I have no idea what it could be since the car dosent really over heat it was at perfect temp. the entire drive to school.. Anyideas? =/
No idea whats going on.. Smoking!!
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1997gtRioRed
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is it low on coolant after driving? is the smoke blueish or white? what year? engine? you may have warped your heads when it overheated and now its burning coolant, or possibly your headgaskets are blown
Well i didn't check it for a while could have been low for a while.. The smoke is white its a 2001 3.8 v6 As soon as it got hot i turned it off.. Its running fine now still smells hot because coolant sprayed everywhere, but it hasn't over heated just ran a little to hot because the fan didnt engage.. I think it may be a bad radiator when i looked just now i saw what looked like to be copper floating in the coolant..
945.0
Active Member
may have popped a gasket and are the heads alum. if so bet there warped
g36 monkey
Post Whore
The heads are aluminum but they can take a pretty good beating. I know because mine has overheated a time or three. Had some bad luck off the bat with the new motor.
I'm betting bad radiatior, just go motorcraft so we don't have to deal with it again lol
I'm betting bad radiatior, just go motorcraft so we don't have to deal with it again lol
mustangspartan
Active Member
If there is white smoke coming from the exhaust and bubbles coming out of the coolant you have sprung a leak buddy. Whats going on is you might have just got a little pin hole in the gasket right now. When the car starts going esp on cold start your going to see it more then when it heats up. Thermal expansion will take place and displace the small leak for a short time untill it gets bigger. Why you see air bubbles in the coolant is from air in the chamber leaking threw. Go get a compression tester do a compression test and leak down at the same time. Find what one it is and then decide what your going to do.. I would advise if you are going to change one change them both since your there and clean it up good. Dont get those stop leaks they are no good and are a quick bandaid on the issue but will cause you more trouble in the future.. There is more then enough info out there and a novice following directions right can do it..
945.0- Maybe but i doubt the heads are warped atleast i hope not..
Jeremy- me and kasey looked at it we think its the thermostat the upper hose gets sucked together so we think its just not opening.
Spartan- I think its the thermastat not opening up and letting the coolant in its leaking out of the cap a bit once the pressure builds up because the thermostat is not opening up.
Jeremy- me and kasey looked at it we think its the thermostat the upper hose gets sucked together so we think its just not opening.
Spartan- I think its the thermastat not opening up and letting the coolant in its leaking out of the cap a bit once the pressure builds up because the thermostat is not opening up.
mustangspartan
Active Member
OK well look at it his way. Bubbles and loosing coolant are going to be a issue but would not cause smoking unless its leaking onto the engine at some hot area and it wouldnt be coming from the back of the car. You would see it coming from under the hood when you stoped and also you would see it when you poped the hood. If you have white smoke then its into the combustion chamber. If the thermostat is closed your car would become instant hot and not cool down at all if its stuck open then it will be cold all the time untill you start driving then it will warm up to such a slight amount that it still wouldnt be the best for combustion temp so you would be getting shitty perfromance. Now that we wrote off the thermostate. start looking again. What your doing with a head gasket going out on you is your now pressurising the system more. Instead of the compression going completely into the chamber its now in the coolant so your going to push air into your lines this will cause coolant to take the path of least resistance and come out where it can. Again take a compression tester and do what i said before. If that comes out good then take and pressure test your coolant system. Doing that will force the fliud to leak out of wherever it is and you will then see were your leak is.. DO NOT DO A PRESSURE TEST ON THE COOLANT before a compression test. There is a chance you will force fliud into you chamber and cause a hydro lock.. To go one more part with your theroy and proving mine i will say that our caps are rated at 16 lbs of pressure now when it goes over that the cap has a valve that will open and release pressure so it wont blow the system. If you have compression from the chamber going into the system it will come out of the cap when running and suck in coolant then have white smoke coming from your exhaust. When you turn it off the system will lose fluid into the chamber(s) untill both the coolant and chamber equal out in pressure..
94GTstanger
New Member
I would agree with this last post on testing for a bad head gasket...another simple test that may tell you what's going on is warm your car up to operating temps, make sure water is full. Pull the cap off b4 its hot! Once it warms up look for water to be forced out of the radiator. A lot of times in if a head gasket is bad and water is getting into the chamber and not oil the pressure from the cylinder will force water back out of the system.
1997gtRioRed
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just do a cylinder leakage test. its simple, the tool can be rented from most auto parts stores, or have a shop do it. not very expensive and it will give you exact results to whether it is your headgasket or not. i am guessing it it, because white smoke = burning coolant. bubbles in antifreeze = pressure from combustion chamber(cylinder) is being forced into the cooling system. may be as simple as a headgasket, but it might be as bad as a cracked cylinder wall.
DO NOT just throw parts at it.
DO NOT just throw parts at it.
I found my leak. My radiator sprung a leak due to the thermostat not opening im presuming. So new radiator and thermostat= no more smoke or leak. Now my guages were reading opposite the needle said normal digital said overheating.. sensor was broken getting a new one in today. The last issue im seeming to have is my radiator always seems to be low on coolant but im not leaking and not smoking so i have no idea where it is going. My heat was cold yesterday and today its hot but now also today my air is not cold anymore. Could this be a result of the overheating? I am still going to run tests because i cant dump a gallon of coolant in this thing every 2 days it has to be going some where.
g36 monkey
Post Whore
Brian calm down lol. Let the coolant get in everywhere.
We might need to recharge your a/c today. That's easy.
As far as the gauge, thats all in that snapped sensor lol.
We might need to recharge your a/c today. That's easy.
As far as the gauge, thats all in that snapped sensor lol.
Yeah ac might need a recharge and it is the guage it reads 215 right now in 50 degree weather after sitting for 3 hours.. haha i broke the crap out of that thing.. i was to serious about it. But everything will hopefully be solved tomorrow =]]
mustangspartan
Active Member
Did you do a compression/leak down test yet? Or a coolant test?
Voltmeter you sensor it only sends one signal...
Thermostat wont cause your radiator to spring a leak. Would cause overheating or overcooling if not working right. You would blow or spring a leak around a fitting.
White smoke just doesnt go away with any of those two parts. Weather effecting your tailpipes would be clear like your breath when its -10 out.
Voltmeter you sensor it only sends one signal...
Thermostat wont cause your radiator to spring a leak. Would cause overheating or overcooling if not working right. You would blow or spring a leak around a fitting.
White smoke just doesnt go away with any of those two parts. Weather effecting your tailpipes would be clear like your breath when its -10 out.
g36 monkey
Post Whore
when the humidity is high your pipes have a tendency to smoke on a cold start.
but the whitesmoke he was experiencing was nothing more than spewed coolant burning off.
the radiator had a leak in it, put a new one in and now no leaks. while in there changed the thermostat, changing the temp sensor today because it is snapped in half (F me, its on the back of the head) and also put on a radiator cap with a pressure relief valve.
Seems to run like a top now.
but the whitesmoke he was experiencing was nothing more than spewed coolant burning off.
the radiator had a leak in it, put a new one in and now no leaks. while in there changed the thermostat, changing the temp sensor today because it is snapped in half (F me, its on the back of the head) and also put on a radiator cap with a pressure relief valve.
Seems to run like a top now.
Yeah it was the sensor lol it was cracked and i was to serious about taking it off and snapped it in half lmao. But it says my cars at 215c even after sitting over night which is impossible. Going to change it in a little while =]
