Mitsubishi - Eclipse :: Overheating - Steam / Smoke Coming From Radiator Cap
Feb 21, 2013
My car was starting to over heat and I wasn't getting any heat thru the vents. Thermostat was replaced and so was the radiator cap. The coolant reservoir is still topped off, and doesn't seem to be getting sucked thru to the radiator. If I pour coolant directly into the radiator, car temp stays even, and heat eventually does come thru vents, better while driving. But, I still get steam/smoke coming from radiator cap. I cannot be buying and pouring coolant into the radiator everyday. I have a 99 Mitsubishi Eclipse with approx 140xxx miles...
View 19 Replies
Advertisement
I have a 1997 Subaru Legacy Outback Limited, ~180,000 miles. It has been a good car but we've run into some problems the last few months. About a month ago we were driving back from vacation and experienced a loud belt squeal from the engine. Had a nearby mechanic look at it -- turned out it was a timing belt pulley which we had to have replaced.
Now, a couple weeks ago, the day after getting my fluids changed, I was driving over the mountain on another, shorter, trip and experienced sudden overheating - steam coming out from the radiator - lots of discouraging gurgling and clunking sounds as liquid moved around. Had to have it towed 40 miles back home.First thought being a Subaru person -- head gasket. A couple of mechanics nearby when I was broken down on the side of the road gave that as a preliminary diagnosis as well.
Unfortunately, we were leaving for a week on another trip, so I had to wait to have my car looked at until we got back -- about 2 weeks. Now my regular mechanic takes a look -- he says it isn't the head gaskets, but a hold corroded in the bottom of the radiator that the coolant is just pouring out of. Also the fans aren't working. F
I have heard that most people get their radiators replaced before it becomes clear that it is a head gasket issue. So I am very nervous that this issue is actually a head gasket and that for whatever reason my normal mechanic can't find the signs for because it was sitting for two weeks, or for some other reason. He's not a Subaru specialist. I asked specifically that he check the head gaskets and he says no oil in coolant, coolant in oil or sweet smell from tailpipe.
View 8 Replies
I recently noticed my car is leaking its motor oil into the radiator. There is no water in the motor oil and the transmission oil is at it's appropriate level and such.
View 2 Replies
Our 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse engine heated up. The Anti Freeze reservoir is full but the radiator was low which caused the car to heat up. Why isthe anti freeze not getting to the radiator? The hose seems clear. We filled the radiator with anti freeze and the seems to be working fine. Why is it not sucking from the reservoir.
View 3 Replies
1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse. 2.0L 5-speed. 195,000. When I complete my 33 mile trip home and shut off engine, I can hear air bubbling into the overflow tank from radiator. Temp gauge shows normal. Just had new water pump, thermostat, radiator flush and refill and new 16 lb radiator cap installed. Overflow tank fills up to near top (not running over) and when engine cools, the tank is back down to half way. I've checked water level in radiator when cool and it is full. Question: Is this normal? Don't think I've ever noticed or heard the bubbling sound before. The engine runs great and smoothly.
View 5 Replies
I have a 2001 nissan altima. About 4 weeks ago it started over heating, smoke coming from under the hood, not the gauge raising. I took it to my mechanic and he replaced the big hose going from the radiator to the engine. I got it back and about 2 days later it started again overheating again, smoke under the hood. Took it back and he said the radiator is leaking it was under a year old so he replaced it, i drove it home on a sunday and monday morning I drove to work 5 miles at 10 am break it had two puddles under it. He said it's the radiator again, replaced it and we went to pick it up and he said it blew again. Sounds odd to me He finally said they thought it was the fans. The gauge never ran hot only the smoke coming from under the hood. If your looking under the hood it was wet on the left side. Needless to say he has had my car for almost 2 weeks and it's still not fixed. My question is should I go get it and take it somewhere else. What damage will it do to drive it somewhere else?
View 19 Replies
So i have a 01 LS and i love it so much. Ive only had it for 5months and since the 3rd month ive been having some overheating problems. Ive replaced the coolant reservoir it drove fine for about 3weeks then started to run hot again and leak coolant out the reservoir cap so i replaced that. Still ran hot.. so my brother got some air pockets out of the system but, it still ran hot. So i replaced the t-stat. After replacing that it did fine for a few days then started to run hot again. This time it seem to run hot one day and not the next until one day it ran hot constantly and steam would come from the reservoir and coolant would leak from under the car (behind front drivers side wheel.).
So when it leak i would check the overflow tank sometimes it will be full and sometimes not. When it wasn't full I would refill it until i ran ran out of antifreeze. Well i parked it after it leaked out the last of antifreeze that was in tank. So a few days later i got some antifreeze that was given to me by my brother which was red/orange all purpose antifreeze. I filled the tank up as it was dry and had leaked out all the green antifreeze. I started the car and let it run. It ran for about 20min without getting hot quickly like it usually do, air worked great but hea not so great.
Then I started seeing steam come from reservoir tank which was full of red coolant then its started leaking GREEN coolant instead of the red i filled the tank up with. Also the temp gauge never went to H while it did all of this. And the antifreeze drip from like 4 or 5 different places behind my left front wheel. Its a v8 3.9 engine.
I know one day i checked my coolant after it ran hot one day and it was low so i filled it up with water and forgot to put cap back on and i hopped on freeway. Soon as i got off it started smoking really bad i pull over and the coolant was boiling which i also forgot to mention. Thats another thing it has been doing. But the smoke came from the coolant boiling in tank and since i forgot to put cap on the smoke came out freely from tank. Could this have caused a problem. Although my car was running hot with coolant boiling in reservoir way before i did that and even after.
View 6 Replies
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?
View 5 Replies
I have an 04 gti 1.8t and last night it started over heating. I pulled over and checked the coolant and the oil but everything looked good. I let it cool down and drove it home. When I popped the hood there was a little steam coming from the coolant overflow tank but I saw no leaking. I decided to vent the pressure off the system and then I got a little drip on the passenger side close to where the inter cooler is. I can't pinpoint the leak though.
View 4 Replies
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.
View 14 Replies
So for the past week or so, I've been having problems with my cooling system. (May or may not be related to my air valve stuck open code, just thought I'd mention it.) First thing that drew my attention to the problem was smoke (or steam) coming from under the hood, I let the car cool off, and drove home. During this time I also noticed the heat stopped working. I went to get some coolant in another car and filled it up. Smoke went away, and heat started working again.
Later the same day I checked the reservoir and it looked low so I figured the radiator sucked all the coolant up, so I refilled the resivoir tank. I spilled a nice amount when doing that, and the steam came back. It cooled down again and no more steam, figured it burnt off. The next few mornings on my first drive of the day ONLY, I saw steam. Thought it was the condensation mixing with the leftover coolant that I spilled since it didn't happen at all until the next morning.
Today was the first time it started steaming at night, and the heat stopped working again, even though the reservoir level was mostly full. I let the car cool down, and then I added more coolant and the heat started working again, no more steam either. Looked under the hood once I got home, abt a 20 min drive, resivoir was nearly empty even though car was still warm. No visible leaks on the smaller reservoir hose but there are puddles under the hood.
I've read it could be a leak of course, but also the Cap could be preventing the right pressure to suck fluid back in radiator after expanding into the surge tank, or something causing the tank to boil over....
Car is a 2013 Chevy Sonic with 68,000 miles. Coolant has never been drained/refilled since I bought the car new in 2013.
[IMG] ....
View 6 Replies
This winter I plan to drive across country from California to Florida in my 2001 Mitsubishi eclipse, unfortunately it’s AC it out and the mechanics said it was the blower and possibly other things and it would coast at least 800 dollars. As I drive across the country in the winter I do not want my car the fog up and would like to keep my windows rolled down to keep air circulation going but if it’s going to be raining that option is out. I’ve searched many different sites online to find a side window deflector but it seems that there isn’t any for that year. If AC repair is out of the question, and a side window deflector doesn’t seem to exist for this model does.
View 19 Replies
I own a Lancer Evolution X and I've been having a strange issue where, when accelerating around 2500-3500 rpm a thick cloud of blueish smoke starts pouring from the exhaust for about a second or two accompanied by a loss in power. The smoke stops quickly and then it runs like normal. This only happens once in a while for a second or two. When idling there is no smoke. Or at Wot. There is no coolant mixing with oil. The oil was recently changed with the proper oil. and it still happens once in a while. I checked the turbo and there is no shaft play or oil inside of it. There is no loss of boost. Although I did see a tiny pool of oil near the turbo inlet and some more oil coating the inside of the intake pipe. is it possible that the turbo just sucks up some oil that collects at the end of the intake? the PCV line which connects to the intake appears to be letting some oil into the intake.
View 7 Replies
My eclipse never had any problems it has 137k miles on it and a couple weeks ago we got a big snow so I didn't go anywhere so the car sat in the cold for 3 days without moving I tried starting it to go to work to.
Found out I had no pressure on my clutch went all the way to the floor. I bled the clutch refilled and it worked, drove it for 2 weeks no problem. We just got another big snow let it sit again n now it is doing the same thing. My mechanic said he couldn't find any leaks but I'm thinking it has to b a master or a slave leak.
View 12 Replies
I am thinking of buying a car but can't decide between a 2003 Nissan 350Z with 87000 miles on it, or a 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse with 57000 miles on it. It will be a commuter car for me. I don't know a lot about Mitsubishis.
View 8 Replies
I have a 99 Eclipse which is pretty low... I guess while driving I had scraped the oil pan on something but didn't think anything of it until my car was sitting and i noticed loss of oil. It doesn't leak when the car is idling, but as soon as the engine is off, i see a thin stream of oil pouring out. My question is, is there anything i can seal the hole with so i do not immediately need to replace the entire pan?
View 9 Replies
My car had some knocking for maybe 6 months when I would accelerate. Today it started then cut off. I restarted it step on the gas now I have thick white smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. Previously when I thought it was a head gasket issues , I went in for a oil change they said no it was not a head gasket problem.
View 1 Replies
I have a 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse. When I start my car, it will only go through second gear. If I stop, turn the car off and back on, It will go through the gears and I can drive normally. I am now just putting the car in neutral while driving, turning it off and on again and it will shift like normal. Otherwise, it just stays in the lower gear. This has been steadily getting worse meaning, I would only have to stop and start the car once on a trip and now it is whenever I slow down to a lower gear. Every now and then it will jerk also. I thought it was a transmission issue but the transmission worked fine most of the time when this started and still does except when I slow down. The interesting thing is that it works fine when I turn the engine off and on again so I was thinking something else. The guy from advanced auto said it was possibly a power issue with something that makes the transmission shift and the transmission guy said it was electrical.
View 5 Replies
My son has a 2000 Eclipse which is making a horrible noise. Some say it is the lifters, some say it is a rod. Sounds like an airplane engine. The oil was not that low, maybe two quarts when we checked. He wants to sell it for 2000.00. Do you think it could be repaired and then sold? Do they have a problem common with this sound?
View 3 Replies
I have 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse with ~105K miles on it. I bought it 3 months ago. It has a strange problem. The RPM starts to drop, whenever I stop at signals or stop signs, or stop for any other reason. It comes back to normal when I turn off the fan. I am not sure what is going on.
View 7 Replies
A few weeks ago my '03 Mitsubishi Eclipse missed for the first time since I've had it. It's a 4-banger, so it was definitely noticeable. Fast forward a couple weeks and after a trip to Texas (from Tennessee), it begins to run between 2,000 and 3,000 RPM on start-up. There is a lack of power (not attributed to the small engine size) that was not present until a short time ago. It stopped doing that, and today a service engine light came on. The code was P0134. Some things about the car- the oil is changed religiously every 3-4 thousand miles, and the only major repairs were several years ago- the clutch and head gasket. Spark plugs are 2 years old, and coil packs were checked out around then as well.
View 6 Replies
