Is my car overheating? it's smoking... HELP!!!!

[Dennis]

Ok I was driving my car today and my thermostat is broken (in my dash) so it stays on C all the time. Well today I had my heater on all the way and I started smelling a burnt smell. I pulled over and popped the hood and sure nuff, there was smoking coming from my engine, from the left side of the valve cover. Anyways, I drove the car to advanced auto parts and got some oil, the car already had oil in it but I put another quart in it. It was fine for about 2 hours then my thermostat went up to like almost to the middle of C and H and then I started smelling the burnt smell again. I pulled over and checked for oil in the radiator and checked the anti-freeze but everything seemed fine. It smoked alittle more this time. It starts fine and drives fine, it doesn't smoke out of the exhaust (from what I could see through the rear-view) so does anyone know what the problem could be? Thanks! :cool2:

[badmanferg]

left side? um...possibly you have a leak in one of your hoses....i had a similar problem an i turned out to be the heater hose....what does the smoke smell like? (dumb question but it could contain a clue you know)


bless

[A20A1]

Hmm... was the heater actually hot?
How was the coolant level?
You might want to make sure the thermostat is working, or at least is open... check the upper and lower radiator hoses and see if they are about the same temp... if one is cold then something is wrong with the T-stat.

How come the guage isn't working?
Do your radiator fans come on?

do you see puddles of coolant under the car if you park it for a while?

as for oil leaking on the left side... you might want to check the distributor o-ring or the valve cover gasket.

[johnwc723]

yeah i bet you have a leak! is it smoke or is it steam, i thought my thermometer was all messed up but it never was, take a look at your thermostat if you can easily it coudl be messed up too (replace it if you can) that might solve your problem. a good way to tell if it is coolant is does it smell kind of strangely sweet (its ethyl glycol) or does it smell like straigt up oil
if your radiator fan dosent come on (and it has before) your engine probably isnt overheating

also check at your exaust and see if there is more than usual coming out of there (indicating the worst, a head gasket leak)

[Dennis]

alright, thanks everyone for the comments. I'll check to see if the hoses are both the same temp and if there is any leaks or anything. The guys at advanced said it was probably the thermostat but I don't know. I'm in school right now so when I get out I'll check for leaks in my parking spot and once the car gets warm I'll check the radiator hoses. The heater works but it doesn't work to good. It blows warm air though. The smell just smelt burnt. I don't know what kind of burnt it was. I have antifreeze in it so I don't know. Thanks for your help.

[danronian]

My car smokes around the valve cover b/c of the oil leak issues, so if you have oil all around the head, don't look past that. But it could also be the coolant hoses, they tend to leak more during the winter time.

[Dennis]

yeah i noticed oil by the valve cover,and i was thinking...

i'm ripped so excuse me if i don't make any sense. but anyways, let's say it was the oil which is smoking due to the leak, could the steam that rises up under the hood cause the thermostat in my dash to go up? even though it's never went up before (before it started smoking)

[nswst8]

If your temp gauge is going up and down then the sending unit is getting a temperture fluxuation. and since the sending unit is at the thermastat housing, I suspect that the thermastat is going bad, you had better change it quick before you blow your "head gasket".
As for the smell well coolant has a nuaseous sweet order
Burning oil can't be mistaken I know that you've smelled burning oil before.
Check the oil filter base unit seal this will cause oil to leak onto the exhuast pipe.
Hope this helps. LOL
NSWST8

[mykwikcoupe]

a problem with the temp fluctuations may be an air bubble in the thermostat housing. Since air has a higher boiling point than water it takes alot longer for it to heat up properly. If you let the car warm to normal temp and loosen the little bleeder valve on the housing you may see some air pockets in there. Be careful the fluid should be hot so go slow and wait for a steady stream of coolant.

[A20A1]

The temp sending unit for carbed cars is not on the thermostat housing... it is in the base of the intake manifold at the left rear portion.

[soljaboy2000]

I know one time my car was overheating and the temp kept fluxuating and I smelled a burned smell also...when I got home it turn out to be that my fans wasn't working because the fan wires got caught on the exaust manifold and burn together causing it to short.

[Dennis]

hmm, my car seems to only over heat sometimes. if it starts getting hot i just turn it off, and wait like 30 seconds. i start it back up and sometimes i turn the heater on and off really quick and my temp guage goes back down below cold even though my car was just smoking from under the hood like 2 minutes earlier... this is starting to piss me off. thanks for everyones help.

[Dennis]

i still haven't figured this out...

[Blkblurr]

Can you tell if the smoke smells like an electrical burn?

[Dennis]

no, it looks like oil is leaking because i see oil under the thermostat/next to the valve cover.