My car runs hot very quickly.the coolant leaves out the reservoir fast and it starts smoking and then cuts off. I just put a new water pump on yesterday and its still smokin and running hot. Smokes on

70

Asked by Macky Oct 02, 2014 at 08:58 AM about the 1999 Chevrolet Lumina

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Passenger side of the car

19 Answers

62,735

Sounds like a head gasket. Is the smoke coming out white? Is the oil milky?

2 people found this helpful.
Best Answer Mark helpful
70

Its coming out white im not sure what u mean bymilky oil

2 people found this helpful.
70

I turned my car on and let it run smh it started smoking in 3 minutes

62,735

When oil and water mix in the engine, the oil turns a white color. I'm afraid that the head gasket is gone.

3 people found this helpful.

I think Bohol_mark was referring to this..it's emulsion ...

3 people found this helpful.
70

Could it be my thermostat are something like that

1 people found this helpful.
70

It doesn't look like that...I have pics but dont know how to post them on here

1 people found this helpful.
62,735

Sorry Macky, but it's way beyond a thermostat now. And there's no "Mechanic in a Can" that will fix it.

1 people found this helpful.

Save the pics to your computer..desktop works for me...click "Add photo" in blue below then when you get 'browse' click that, find pic, right click on it than left click "Select"

Also second opinion, 100% agree.. there is no miraculous 'fix it in a can', especially if you put it in crankcase..will clog the small oil passages on piston rod bearings and burn up/spin a bearing. That crap does more harm than benefit

1 people found this helpful.
7,010

First of all, start your engine cold and check the exhaust. See if it blows out liquid, sooty (black) water. If your oil in a hot engine doesn't look like chocolate milk - that's a good thing - make sure the oil is clear or not. Now make sure you opened your radiator cap before starting the engine. Immediately after starting the engine cold see if there is smoke bubbling up through the coolant and look to see if there are little specks of soot floating around in the water. You can take the car to a mechanic who will use a "sniffer" to see if there are exhaust gasses in the radiator but if you can see smoke bubbles and/or soot in the coolant it's not really necessary to involve a mechanic. As the car warms up, notice if the white smoke dissipates or remains constant. Any one or several of these in combination or all of these symptoms indicates one of three conditions; 1. A bad or blown head gasket. 2. A warped head possibly from overheating problems not yet diagnosed. 3. A cracked head. A blown gasket or cracked head may not necessarily put water in your oil depending on where the gasket or crack is leaking. The white smoke is a dead give-away that it is one of these three problems. It means that cooling water is getting into your cylinders and going out the exhaust as steam. It can only do that from one or all of these 3 problems. There are some "mechanic in a can" bandages for this but none of them are reliable for very long and it is not fixing the problem. The only way to fix this is to pull the head and look for cracks. If no cracks you may just need a new head gasket. Check the head for warp and get a machine shop to plane it back to level and be sure to follow the head bolt tightening schedule and torque specks to the letter. If you don't have a torque wrench, buy one, borrow one or find a friend who does. You should buy new head bolts, too.

7,010

I forgot to mention; if you warm up the engine with the radiator cap off and also removing the thermostat, the white smoke will most likely dissipate. This is because you are not building up pressure in the cooling system and so it is not blowing water into the cylinders as much. You may be able to drive the car to the mechanics shop this way but don't think it has solved the problem. You will destroy your engine if you drive it this way for very long.

1 people found this helpful.

say bra check your thermostat its possible it got stuck and also check and make sure ur fans are coming on to cool ur motor idn about tha white smoke coming from tha tailpipe usually that does mean blown head gasket

10

One very newbie mistake that I just made can cause these same systems. The cue is that the coolent runs into the reservoir quickly and then overheats fast. The other symptom is that the coolent won't bleed from the bleeder on the drivers side; but, the one on the passenger's side will bleed easily. The car then overheats with no water ever coming out of the bleed on the driver's side, like it's full of air or something. But, the problem is simply the radiator cap has a bad seal. In this case, the radiator cap has two seals, one that seals it from coming out of the radiator, and the other seals it from going into the reservoir unless it over pressurizes the radiator, the purpose of the reservoir. So, the first seal is good, but the second seal is bad letting the water back into the reservoir before it should. Thus pressure never builds enough to bleed the system, thus the air remains, as now there's not enough water in the radiator, it's in the reservoir. Often, if one has tried, as I did, to fill the radiator repeatedly to be able to bleed it, eventually the reservoir will overfill, and run out. Simply replace the radiator cap before thinking it's a blown head gasket. Since the poster did not say he checked the radiator cap; this could be the issue. In my case, I've been bleeding her car every few months or so and couldn't figure it out. It would work for a few months, then need bled again, like the reservoir had plenty of water; but, it wasn't working. Typically, if there's too much water when it expands, it will go into the reservoir, and then under vacuum as the water cools, suck it back in. Which is why we only need to, if it's running right, monitor the reservoir; but, if the gasket on the radiator cap has an issue, even a small one, monitoring the reservoir doesn't work. Having fixed mine tonight, I expect my problem to go away. You could say all the clues were there; and I kept thinking, if I could just block the water from going back into the reservoir, then it would only have one way out, the bleeder. Turns out to be true, when it's working and the radiator cap is good. I expect no more issues... will be back, if the issue reappears.

1 people found this helpful.
10

BTW, I posted the response above, because this site show up first for overheating issues.

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