trilaxx

Facts:

I bought the car back in Oct, 2012 with 140k on the block. The only mods installed are: off-road pipes, slp loudmouth exhaust, and it came with a hand held tuner which i used to tune back to stock for now.

So basically i have a OBD-II bluetooth hooked up to my nexus 7 with gives access to a lot of readings from the car.

Car does NOT over heat. When the temps hit 215f the fan kicks on the temp drops to 205f and this repeats itself if i let it idle. When i turn on the a/c I see no smoke at all, i mean from any where at anytime and the temp never goes over 205f.

The issue:

The car runs fine as long as i dont stop and sit at a light for a minute or let the car idle for a few mins. I get a nice puff of white smoke out of the exhaust when i rev the engine, but once it idles down no more smoke. if i rev it again no smoke. But if i let if set for a minute then rev ill have smoke.

Also i can see whitish steam come from the defrost vent in the car when its around 210F. But goes away when I drove for a longer period.

Besides that the car runs fine.
Ohh and during each oil change (every 3k-4k miles) I've checked for the famous oil and coolant mixture and i do not see that happening.

Possibilities:

1. Intake manifold leaking
2. Heater core (but does not explain the exhaust smoke)
3. Head gasket (Not showing normal symptoms)
4. IDK

I'll be taking the car to the dealer this weekend to have them diag it and let me know.

But, I really value your opinions. So if you have any suggestions or things i should look at and test, let me know.

Thanks,

stevednmc

Have you checked if there's oil in your coolant reservoir? I think its an intake/intake gasket issue myself. You can mess with the fan settings with the tuner so it can come on at a lower temp, just FYI.

SXGT

I am curious if they make a dye you can put in coolant to help better find leaks.


being in motion shouldn't matter here because your coolant flows through regardless of you being in gear or at a stop. This very well could be a separate issue.


have you ran leak sealer through the system ?

Dooney

I think it sounds like a intake gasket as well. I could be wrong though. Have you looked around the intake for anything that looks out of the ordinary?

blu30val

A lot of what's been said makes sense. Before doing anything I'd pressure test and trace any leaks. If no leaks, test the block. Napa has a great block tester. Keep us posted, I'm down to help.

trilaxx

Sorry for the late response.

The liquid in the coolant reservoir is kind brown colored. But It just looks like it's needs to be flushed or is dirty, maybe it's oil. I'm going to try and do a coolant flush this weekend.

The previous owner did use leak sealant I can see it all around the area where that plastic T that cracks so often. He did rerun some of those hoses or replace them around the TB.

So, I'll get the car pressure tested and have them run a leak test. hopefully it'll be a small issue.

One other thing I noticed, when I have the hood open and I rev the engine from the TB, a small puff of smoke does spread out over the passenger side of the car. So it very well could be an intake gasket.




Not much comes out of that rubber hose but i just wanted to show everything i can. I don't think that's causing my issues, but yes i understand that that is an issue itself(which I will soon fix)

SXGT

sooo.... thats a bullitt .....? looks like it with that T/B. that brown color in your radiator is leak sealer OR rust from the heater core. Once you get the brown, you just about cant get rid of it. I dont think its an actual problem tho. I never bothered my 97.

blu30val

I would fix it and rule it out, defiantly before a pressure test. From experience as a tech, it makes sense to fix all known and obvious leaks before proceeding. +1 on the reservoir. the brown is there to stay. I've done water flushes, chemical flush, soaked reservoir in solvent; nothing seems to work.

Horus

Intake leak is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head. Thats how my issue started. Car would start to overheat unless it was moving.

school boy

off road pipes? do you mean off road cat-less mid pipe? If so, this may be a reason for the smoke out the tail pipes.