Hey,
I just recently bought a 97 CL premium with 84k miles on it, so I am a noob to this forum. Just changed the oil and did a once-over, and i realized that after I drive the car for a few minutes, a medium amount of smoke starts coming out of the grill. It smells a little maple-syrupy so I figured it's coolant. The smoke is coming from under the front of the engine, between the radiator and the heat guard.


The car is running below half at all times, and I will check the fluid level tomorrow. I just flushed the radiator and put a new cap on, but I found some black gook in the overflow reservoir and on the cap.

If you guys have any certainty as to what this could be it would be great.


Thanks
-Ryan
Western Mass

 

A blown head gasket maybe? If it's just the coolant smell, then I'd say a hole in one of the hoses, but black stuff in the resevoir?

 

my first and cheapest guess would be a cracked/punctured radiator or radiator hose. do not repeat DO NOT put the radiator stop leak into your radiator. that shit is so bad for your motor. it cloggs up most of your cooling passages in your head and causes hot spots in your head.


the black stuff in your resuvoir could be from the flush, which is brown. or someone could have already put in stop leak which looks like black mud when it gets wet. it looks like pepper when its dry., which means u need to back flush the motor to get it all out.
come to think of it thats prolly what it is. theres prolly a small hole in the radiator and who ever sold u the car put that stop leak in it to save money. have the radiator pressure checked to find out where it is comming from.

please take heed to my warning bout that stop leak. its temporary fix to a permanent problem and usually causes more problems than it helps.

good luck haas.

 

agreed on the stop leak, dont use it, and start with the small stuff first before you start getting head happy

 

What's wrong with getting head...happy

 

lol....you guys know what i mean, a buddy of mine swapped in a sr20 in his car and was having some problems and thought it could be a headgasket and did that first, turned out to be a bad turbo....so always check the small stuff first

 

Hey,

Checked it out today..Ran the car for about 10 mins, then smoke/steam starts coming from the front and back of the radiator. The coolant level is normal, and the temp is normal. Seems like the raditor could be cracked, but wouldnt that mean lost coolant?

Thanks for your help
-Ryan

 

not if its just steaming. if its spraying out then ull notice a drop in coolant level.

 

I am currently driving my friend`s 1999 CL that he lent me before taking a trip out of the states. I have noticed lately that his car has been lacking of coolant. Everytime I pour in coolant, it seems to go empty the next time I check (2-3 days). So, I thought there would have been a leak somewhere. I took it to a shop to have it checked out, and turns out the be the big black metal piping (where you pour coolant in) had a crack right in front. The bodyshop guy poured coolant in, and told me to watch it leak. The price for a new radiator is about 210. I`m currently waiting on money to get this fixed ASAP. But in the meanwhile, is there any temporary fix to this? Any special sealant I can use to get around for a few days?

EDiT: Also, the thermostat needle doesn`t move at all when driving, it stays a normal temperature.