My daily driver is steaming/smoking from the engine bay!

[TTkickedin]

The reason this is in general? Its a 1986 560sec with the 5.6l v8. Just hoped someone mroe knowledgeable than me can diagnose this problem without me having to sign up for another forum.

Came across a noticeable problem today. Car is running decent, only a few issues mechanically, and none being that it's overheating.

- When I parked or stopped at a stoplight I could see some steam billowing from the hood. Mind you, it's not overheating, and this is a sweet white smoke, (smells like coolant.)
- When I first started it up in the morning there was tons of this smoke in the exhaust, but as soon as I parked at work the smell and smoke was gone in the rear and was just coming out of the hood.
- I did have heating problems 2-3 days ago where the blower would turn on when it wanted to when it was switched to on, not on climate control mode.
- As far as known problems go it has 380k miles, burns/consumes oil, terrible on gas, and sluggish acceleration, and possibly a bad differential. Sometimes the starter doesn't engage the flywheel right away when starting; the starter motor doesn't grind for long, but then makes a faint "whoooooOOOOMM" like you were revving a r/c car or something.) It hasn't NOT started on me, most of the time it starts right up.


Head gasket? Leak in the heater core or heater blower? It's not overheating.. Any thoughts besides getting rid of the car? (You should see the 1/4th of a wheel arch I had to make out of a flexible metal body patch and bondo!)

[frapjap]

I LOVE that car soooo much. If the engine isn't over heating yet, it will soon as it uses coolant on a larger scale.
You'll have to find the source of the leak. Likely a failed gasket dripping onto a hot engine part. Could be anything- a major gasket, old hoses, etc. Possibly a cheap and simple fix.

To find the source, get a black light wand it over the engine bay. The coolant reacts with the light and will help you find the origin of the leak by identifying where the most coolant is coming from.

[Bubba1]

I LOVE that car soooo much. If the engine isn't over heating yet, it will soon as it uses coolant on a larger scale.
You'll have to find the source of the leak. Likely a failed gasket dripping onto a hot engine part. Could be anything- a major gasket, old hoses, etc. Possibly a cheap and simple fix.

.

this^. You didn;t mention if the car consumes coolant. IF it does, and the car doesn't smoke thru the exhaust pipe, first thought is to carefully check all your hoses, including the heater ones and their connections.

Perhaps one sprung a small pin leak above a hot engine part. Doesn't take much to generate a smell.

[TTkickedin]

Thanks guys! I love it too. My dad's had it since 2005 when it's seen it's better days, and I'll tell you I've always wanted the thing before I got my license. Now that I'm driving it daily, I'm enjoying it but at the same time I realized how much time has not been spent on keeping the car in running order. The poor thing is holding onto dear life by a thread it seems.

I'm simultaneously doing what my dad should have done years ago to this thing and building a 500hp z32. Just over the last two days, (not even in a week that i've owned it,) I've fully repaired the rusted body panels on the left side, and I'm slowly reconstructing the ight rear wheel arch that almost completely rotted into the middle of the QP. Once the rust is contained and quarantined, an AMG duraflex replica front bumper or the entire kit, (genuine 86 AMG kit is discontinued :/) will be on order, the AMG style III wheels will be restored, the red interior thoroughly cleaned and nuts/bolts tightened, and sent into the paint booth for the famous Mercedes "silver arrow" scheme - (silver exterior, dark red interior.) It should be looking great, even at almost 400k original miles.

Hell, he's rebuilding my engine and installing my bigger turbos, injectors, ecu (i'm doing the methanol injection myself.) The least I could do is give him back his car in better condition than he bought it before.

Anyway, I figured it might be a leaking/cracked coolant hose. I believe that most of this sweet smoke is coming from the rear of the engine compartment, which would just so happen to contain the heater core, blower motor, and if i'm not mistaken the coolant overflow bottle. I'll bring it by my dad's shop today to see what he has to say and post an update later on. Meanwhile, i'll check coolant levels and add some if need be.


By the way, he has a complete drivetrain assembly ready to drop in. I just need this car to continue to run for at least a few more months so i can get to and from work. I can Imagine I'll be seeking temporary fixes to this problem to eliminate the length of time necessary in the shop where possible.

[NolimitZ32]

First and foremost do this (because its basically free): Go to Autozone and rent their Block Tester Kit & Fluid (they are separate, I don't know why). Test for emissions gasses in your coolant, if it passes then start looking for exterior leaks, if it doesn't, get ready to do your HGs.