oh no.. first big problem??

[Summer99]

Hey guys, I have been having some to-be serious issues with my car lately and I would like to figure out wat the problem is asap before it gets worse. My car has 150,xxx miles on it and i have taken very good car of from the start and i have had pretty good luck with it so far, but i knew something was bound to happen sooner or later. For the past 15000 miles or so when i would crank my car when it was cold, it would have a very very rough idol at first. For the first 5 seconds the car would sound like it had a cam in it. It would literally shake back and forth and then even itself out like it never really happened. Then one day while i was stopped in traffic the car all of sudden ran EXTREMELY hot and i pulled over and had to put water in it. it was very low so we flushed out the coolant and put new in and filled it up all the way and i thought i was fine then a few days later we checked the fluid level and it was super low so we filled it up and it happened again...and my car smelled of antifreeze when i was driving. Tried checking the ground for leaks when it sat there but there was nothing...and today for the first time, i cranked the car (after its usual 5 seconds of rough idol), put in reverse and i saw a little puff of white smoke from my exhaust pipes. The car seems to be driving like it always does and im not burning any oil, but i know im leaking antifreeze somewhere...any suggestions

thanks all
Summer

[Greg94Red392]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

Yeahh....figure out where you're leaking anti-freeze.

[crunk124]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

wow if you do figure this out let me know i have a 2001 3.8 camaro and it just started doing what you just described my temps have all been normal but when i start my car it does the "cam" noise never really noticed it till i opened the exhaust about 2 wks ago... let me know

[Daviselk]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

sounds like an internal leak... it is probs a gasket somewhere

[Smoke Panther]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

check your oil. If it's the visual equivalent of baby spit-up, then you have a failed gasket somewhere...most likely your head gasket

[97rs4life]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

better thread title next time please....make it something that helps others know what you need without having to open the thread

[loser]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

check your oil. If it's the visual equivalent of baby spit-up, then you have a failed gasket somewhere...most likely your head gasket

i prefer milkshake looking, but that works too.

if the car isnt leaving a puddle, and with 150K on the motor, a head gasket wouldnt surpise me at all.

[CDNFB]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

Head gasket or intake gasket. Change the head gaskets and in the process the intake gaskets get changed.

[1994camaroV6]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

my old v6 did the same thing, turned out head gaskets. get that checked before u accidently forget about it, and ur car overheats and cracks the heads and just breaks the motor down

[Smoke Panther]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

i prefer milkshake looking, but that works too.

when one of my intake gaskets failed, the result did not look like anything I'd want to buy from McDonald's

[Dvicc85]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

well i don't know about the leaks but as for the "rough" idle it is fairly normal on these newer cars. what happens is when the car is cold the thermostat is closed to allow the engine to warm up, at the same time the pcm is telling the car to run little rich, also to bring the car up to normal running temp. this entire cycle of events is known as an open loop cycle. Its just to warm up the car a little quicker.

[bah]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

check all vacuum lines as well

[Two Black Marks...]

Re: oh no.. first big problem??

If it does not leak on the ground I would guess either Head gasket or the heater core. If it smells inside the car I would guess an heater core.

Also if you drive a long time whit broken heater, the antifreeze makes an nasty "fog" on your windows when it vaporize. So check if its wet inside the car on the carpets around and under the dash.

If its using a lot of water, if its the head gasket, it should smoke a bit white.
you could maybe try to hold a mirror next to the exhaust and see if its gets moisty/wet. Of course after its gotten warm so youre not fooled by vapor from the exhaust system... The rough Idle could be because of water in one or several cylinders, fill it full whit water and let it stand overnight or longer so you, in the morning could try to take out the plugs and check for water.

Radiator maybe? Because of the heat it produces it vaporizes after leak..
(It seems I like typing the word vaporize...)

I have not been into water usage very much. But hope it helps

But once in a camaro it was because of "over-ported" heads, it was tricky to find because it only used water when it was hot. When the engine was apart, we found it was right under an intake valve seat. a super tiny crack, that actually just was a crack when it was warm... ;)