Hey guys, the other day .... 4 or 5 days ago I was driving down the highway, I floored the gaz pedal and got my car up to about 175Km an hour, then at the next red light I noticed a bit of smoke coming out of the engine bay on the driver side in between the hood and the windshield.

I pulled over at the next gaz station and kept the car running and when I stepped out of the car I could smell it right away that this was prestone burning. I lifted the hood and could see a bit of smoke coming out of the engine bay right in front of the Brake booster and beside the engine. I figured that some coolant somehow leaked on the exhaust manifold of maybe the exhaust system, it was really hard to tell were the smoke was coming from since it was dark and since the smoke was pretty much white/transparent in color.

Anyway's, after 1 or 2 min, it completely stopped.. ?? then I role my car a bit farther to see if any coolant leaked on the ground and I could see about 4 to 5 drops on the ground, I even tasted it to make sure it tasted sweet.. it was sweet so no doubt that this was prestone.
The engine temp and coolant temp stayed normal. The next morning I opened the radiator cap and the radiator seemed to be full.

Anyway's after all this said the car never smoke again but this morning and yesterday after work when I turned the car on, the Low coolant light came on for about 1 minute or so.
I got a bottle of Prestone and filled the over flow bottle about 3/4 full... it was almost empty.

To my surprise the light came on again this morning.

I'm having the rad tested tomorrow with a Rad pressure tester to see if its leaking any where.

Anyone here has any idea what's going on?

I'm thinking that maybe the rad leaked wile I was going 175 km and a drop or 2 or a few fell on the exhaust system, maybe the cats or something and then made smoke for a few moments.. or that maybe a hose is leaking?

 

The car hasn't smoke since then and the engine temp and coolant temp is normal.

 

For sure you have a coolant leak; the question is where.

If you still have the "frisbee" in front of the water pump pulley it will be hard to inspect the water pump for leakage from the weap hole.

If you have the oil cooler option the hose below the A/C compressor that runs to the oil filter could be leaking.

The radiator pressure check will show if you have a head gasket leak; in which case you might want to have the heads ported at this time.

 

:iagree:

I was having the same type of problems. Most of it turned out to be right rear cyl. head gasket. Down the back of the block so very very hard to see. When I pulled the head it was pretty obvious though. I thought was water pump or therm. housing, pump was fine though I'm replacing anyway since its so damn hard to get to & therm housing was oozing a little. I've heard that the alum heads on an iron block eventually scrub the gasket due to diff. in thermal expansion rates.

 

hmmm you guys are worrying me a bit, I had the engine rebuilt 3 years ago, but only put like about 12000 km on the engine since then.

Would the engine be running bad if the head gasket was leeking? becasue the engine seems to be running perfectly.

I'll have the test done tomorow, so I'll soon find out whats wrong with it.

I'll surely have the heads ported if I have to have them removed, might has well kill two birds with one stone.

Its already September and I have to renew the plates on the car soon...
maybe have the head gasket fix and park the car for he rest of the year/winter.

What worries me is that it was from the back passenger side of the engine bay, really sounds like the head gasket doesn't it?
We'll see

Thanks guys


[Modified by TheStef, 1:39 PM 9/9/2003]

 

ok, I'm back

I had the Radiator pressure tested and nothing leeked ???
but it seemed like the pressure was just staying in the Rad and not going into the engine "SEEMED" not sure if this was the case.

My step dad was the one doing the pressure test, he figured that maybe the Termostat sticked wile I had the gaz pedal to the floar like a maniac.. :jester

We started with the cheep stuff first "only logical" so we ordered a new termostat and I replaced it, the old one seemed fine and didn't seem like it was sticking.

My step dad said its almost impossible that the head gasket is the problem since the guys who built the engine is one of the best arround and that the engine was just rebuilt... ok ok, rebuilt 3 years ago, but only got 12000 km on it since then, the heads had been shaved as well.

so? this is were I am at the moment, we looked for a leek and didn't find one, the car hasn't had a leek since then, the engine temp is normal, the low coolant light came on yesterday for only a breaf moment.. .maybe 20 secounds or so.

Were thinking that maybe its just the sensor.

Anyway's, if it is infact the head gasket, is it dangerous to drive the car?
the engine honnestly runs great.

let me know what you guys think

 

I was also told that these engines are known to sometimes leek from the intake base manifold.... has any one ever heard of that before?