Ford Aerostar :: Loud Pop / Antifreeze Burning Smell / Steam Pouring Out From The Hood
Dec 12, 2011
Had numerous problems the last 9 months, and we've replaced the thermostat, water pump, clutch fan, flushed radiator. Last week we thought the heater core had died (air blowing cold, but gauge not indicating any overheating). But it just need flushing, had a clog. Has been kicking out the heat ever since.
What is bothering me though is that the temp gauge always seems to be right at the C, even after driving for a while. Before the van had issues, it stayed right between N and O.
Then this morning, I hear a loud pop, smell horrible burning antifreeze and smoke/steam pouring out from the hood (I managed to park it immediately, had just dropped son off at school). After I'm parked, all the antifreeze puddles underneath.
So hubby comes, and we see that the top radiator hose has blown, with a lovely crack/hole from one side to the other. Now, that hose was old, and probably was a big part of the problem.
We fixed it, and I just drove it again, but I am watching the gauge. And the van is blowing nice, HOT air from the heater. But the gauge is staying right at the C. Used to run between N and O. It is jumpy...not jumping towards hot, but little jumps...below the C, above the C, up to the N, back down to C...it just seems strange to me; it doesn't go past the N at all and spends most of its time at or below the C.
I guess I am wondering if there is any other reason why the hose could've blown this morning besides it being old and worn out....for example, excess heat and pressure building up that for some reason is not registering on the temp gauge? It's making me nervous. Is there something else besides the thermostat that could cause erratic temp gauge or cause gauge not to show me the true engine temp?
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When car is stopped after driving for awhile, steam comes pouring out of hood on passenger side near windshield. Opened the hood and steam was coming from firewall area, not from radiator. Mechanic replaced thermostat etc. for heater core but stll have steam problem. Temperature gauge reads normal and heater doesn't work. It tastes like antifreeze is getting into passenger compartment and it fogs up the windshield.Radiator cap is not even warm. Sounds like antifreeze is not flowing through the radiator.
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Just got a weird chemical smell on my way back from lunch and the a/c stopped working. Pulled up to the garage and there was a smell of burning under the hood, plus a fairly loud hum, and also these weird noises that sounded like electrical discharges from underneath.
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Was driving my 1992, 3.0 and all of a sudden noticed temperature gauge go to extreme hot, steam from hood and engine stalls. Upon inspection, the heater hose blew out, and van does not start even the next day, plus I think the starter sound different (faster). Saw spark at plug wire, smell gas, and did a quick compression with my thumb on #1, and felt air.
Towed it to the mechanic and within 5-10 minutes told me it was a cracked engine, I was not there but he stated he did a compression test. Is he correct, or can it be a timing chain problem?
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I can smell antifreeze under the hood, so I took it to be pressure tested. They found no leaks, but I can still smell it. When I add it to the reservoir, it goes down. What can I do ?
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I have a 93 Aerostar RWD 4.0L that I was driving around town a few weeks ago and I noticed it wasn't braking that well. The pedal is usually firm but easy to push and very sensitive...instead it was a lot firmer and didn't brake as quickly when i put my foot down. The van itself felt a little under powered, like something was holding it back and I had to put my foot down a lot more to get it up to speed. After awhile I began getting a really bad burning smell coming in through the driver window. I pulled over and saw small faint lines of smoke coming out of the front driver side wheel well, upon closer inspection I got a good wiff of burnt brake pad (I am familiar with the scent) and the hub cap on the wheel was really hot. I automatically assumed the caliper was ceased.
Later when I had free time took the wheel off removed the caliper from the wheel and everything looked fine. I was able to push the piston back in with ease using a C-clamp, but there was a lot of corrosion in and around the piston, I wire brushed it off and greased and cleaned everything up. I took it out since then on a few short trips to the store, everything seemed fine. Today however it happened again, and I began smelling burnt brake pad from the same wheel well. It only seems to happen when I have been driving it for a long time like 30mins to 1hr, short trips everything is fine. Is this the caliper or the Master cylinder? Due to the excessive heat around the wheel hub should i maybe think about replacing the inner and outer wheel bearings as well?
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2002 Santa Fe with 140K. Superbly well maintained.
I notice . Looked all around....then on the radiator toward the top where the metal meets the plastic. I noticed wetness across the entire radiator. Thought it may be coming from the upper hose and spreading across....Replaced the upper hose....Not the problem.
Still has anti freeze seeping across the radiator / plastic area. Does the mean the entire radiator needs replacing? I have searched the forums and seems like no one had replaced a radiator on the Santa.
Is the radiator breaking down. Oh, it's NOT the water pump.
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Lately my 2002 v6 has been smelling like it's burning oil from under the hood. Around the front exhaust manifold, there's a wet black "powder" type substance. Oil levels are fine and the car has also been driving without any issues. The car hasn't overheated but then again, I live in NJ where the temperatures don't go above 35F.
I'll be posting a picture tomorrow.
The car has 144k and the timing belt, water pump, spark plugs were done at 120k.
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I recently noticed that my car was starting to smell like oil burning off. Soon i realized that from time to time there would be a bit of smoke form under the hood I looked under the car and noticed that oil is dripping onto the cat but i am not sure from where. There is not alot of room in the back of these engines to see.
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I have a 2001 F150 4x4 supercrew XLT 4.6 with 150,000 miles. I have a few things happening in the truck, and although it is still running for now, I would like to get ahead of this before something catastrophic happens, and I don't know if everything is related, or everything is falling apart separately.
1. I have been noticing a burning smell coming from under the hood after driving, every time I drive, but no noticeable leaks, and oil level is fine. I have seen light smoke coming from the exhaust but inconsistently. A mechanic said it was probably the valve cover seals leaking to the manifold, but I would think there would eventually be less oil on the dipstick?
2. When on the gas, over 2200 RPMish, the air and AC switches to defrost. It seems like a vacuum line leak somewhere, but can't find it.
3. Generally, the truck seems sluggish, sometimes unwilling to shift gears or accelerate at freeway speeds. Not sure if its the transmission going out again (had it replaced at 125000), or spark plugs?
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Yesterday I made a 3 hour round trip with my car, and on the last leg coming back into town, I noticed my check engine light came on, and I saw white smoke coming from underneath the hood of my car, along with a burning smell. Luckily I was able to make it home just fine. I've googled this issue, some people have suggested coolant leak.
Also, I checked the oil levels today and they appeared to be slightly below the lowest level tick, which could be why it was having issues yesterday. Last time I got an oil change was November of 2015. I'm surprised it's this low considering I normally don't commute farther than a couple miles each day.
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While waiting at a stop light my car totally died, there were no warning lights, the car is a 2011 Subaru forester with 52,000 km. I had it pushed off the road, tried to restart it with jump cables but it would not turn over. I noticed an odd burning smell when I opened the hood. There were rat tracks on top of the engine area. I had the battery pulled out and replaced with another fully charged but it did not make a difference.
After sitting for two days, I restarted the car and the engine managed to turn over but very very rough, a mechanic thought there was something loose in the engine. I currently live in Mexico and closest subaru dealership is 5 hours away. I will need to get it towed there but I would like to have some idea of what it may be, my thought is somehow a wire got chewed off but I had driven it about 20 miles that morning and then it just stopped dead.
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I have a new 2013 Hyundai Accent (automatic, 4 cylinder) with less than 1500 miles on it. The day I drove it off the lot and up until today, it randomly smells like burning rubber. It happens whether it is hot or cold, driven two miles or thirty miles. The smell is coming from under the hood but I know very little about engines, so I'm not sure what it is. I have told the dealership and they don't seem to care. I may not know much about cars but I know that that smell is not normal, especially in a new car. What could be causing this...
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I purchased a Certified Pre-owned 2008 Lexus LS 460 in January 2011 with 29,000 miles. On April 2, 2011 I was parking my car and smelled wires burning and then saw smoke coming out of the hood. I immediately cut the engine, got my kids to safety and called 911. The firemen threw water on the engine and disconnected battery. It was towed to a local Lexus dealer and has been there since. They believe it was the starter, but the repairs as of yet are not complete. I submitted a claim with headquarters to give me my money back or a comparable vehicle. I am concerned about the safety of this vehicle and any residual chemicals and smoke that may remain with the vehicle.
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I have a 2002 Honda Odyssey. The other day while driving, and today after just starting up, the car makes a whining noise, multiple lights on the dash illuminate (charge, all door open indicators, brake, and brake light bulb indicator) and when I open the hood I can smell a slight burning smell. I thought maybe something was frozen, but the belt is not unusually warm, and all the pulleys I can see are turning.
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I own a 2001 Buick Century Limited that has 208k miles on it. A couple days ago I started the car up at a friends house and noticed that it had a loud rough idle and that the check engine light came on. When I drove the car home, the CEL would flash when I accelerated and I could smell something burning. When I released the gas pedal and coasted, the flashing CEL would return back to a solid state but I could still smell the burning. When I would accelerate, the CEL would start to flash again. Whenever I was stopped at a stop sign, the flashing CEL would again be solid and there would be a loud rough idle along with the same burning smell. Am I looking at an engine replacement or an easy fix? One problem or could it be multiple problems?
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I've owned this vehicle since new and never overheated or had any major mechanical issues. It just hit 130,000 miles and recently completed a 1500 mile uneventful road trip running great.
The other day I noticed an excessive amount of steam/smoke coming from the exhaust while sitting at a stop light after recently starting the vehicle. Once the van was up to temperature the exhaust steam/smoke cleared up.
I checked the radiator level and found it was about a qt low, and did not seem to have any exhaust bubbling or fumes in the radiator.
Then, I pulled the dipstick and the freshly changed oil looked a bit cloudy (I got really nervous), I really can't say its milky colored because I can still see though the oil and see the cross hatches on the stick. But it doesn't look like new oil.
The engine seems to be running fine, no loss of power or missing. Starts and idles fine.
Talked with a mechanic friend and he immediately said blown head gasket or intake manifold was allowing water from one of the four corners where the gasket seals the water jacket, into a cylinder.
Since that first episode of excessive steam/smoke it hasn't reproduced the problem to that degree. It does start to steam out the exhaust after about 5 minutes of starting cold, but seems to dissipate after the engine warms.
The amount of smoke / steam in that first episode, I couldn't see the car behind me in the mirror ... I looked like a mosquito fogger.
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I recently took my 2011 5.0L F-150 on a 1,000 mile round trip threw the mountains of New Mexico and back home. Upon arriving home the truck was pretty dirty so I decided to run it through the car wash real quick. This particular car wash was one of those without brushes, were it just sprays water and soap on the car the rinses it clean and blow drys it as you drive out.
I noticed that after a few seconds of water spraying on my hood there was the low rolling steam coming right out of the front grill. I quickly checked all my gauges and they showed that nothing was overheating or anything like that, but I still was worried. So when the wash was over I pulled into the parking lot and popped the hood. I also noticed that steam continued for a few seconds as rolled threw the parking lot, it however stopped before I was able to get out and open the hood so I was unable to locate its source.
Upon opening the hood I found nothing that looked outta place or anything like that, abiet the engine itself was a little dusty, but that was all. Could it just have been water touching the cold manifold or something? Overall the truck hasn't been driving any differently, so that eases my mind a little.
This is cause for a little bit of concern for me, as I have never had this happen with either of the two Trucks I owned before this one. For the record my truck now has 7,000 miles on the dot on it.
Here's a Video clip of an Ecoboost F-150 ''Not My Truck'' doing the excat same thing that mine did.
2011 Ford F150 EcoBoost Looks Like Its On Fire - YouTube .....
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I have a 2003 F150 with a 4.6. Exhaust is pouring out white smoke with a sweet smell. I have replaced upper and lower intake gaskets. Compression test on all cylinders are at 145. Confused and don't know where to go from here.
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Got my joe z exhaust put in today. After getting it installed i was obviously getting on the car to see how it sounds.. I came to a stop and smelled that sulfur smell that people normally do when getting on their engines but also noticed some smoke/steam seeping out from under the back of my hood. No overheating though. Immediately got alarmed and shut off the car. Popped the hood and everything was fine. No smoke at all. Turned it back on and all was normal and drove the car again and there was nothing.
What could this be? something serious i hope not. i do not drive me car hard at all. its got almost 14k and changed the oil at 10k. this has never happened before. It was hot today though like 90+ ... Maybe it was just from driving it hard?
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So my son has a 93 Saab... my wife was driving it home the other day and one of the radiator hoses burst, steam rolled out from under the hood and the car died. She had no idea what had happened so she called my brother and they pushed it into a nearby driveway till I could look at it. The next day I found the busted hose and replaced it, but the car still will not start? We pulled it home with my truck and a chain.
Of coarse on that car the distributor cap is right above the hose that burst so I assumed water got into the cap. I took off the distributor cap and though it seemed mostly dry I wiped it out anyway and let it air dry for a while. After putting it back together it still will not start? What to do next or what to try?
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