burning antifreeze once again

intercooled89xr

Registered User
ok guys heres the thing i have an 89 xr7 with a rebuilt motor with about maybe 3,000 miles on it i have not beat on it at all and last 2 or 3 days i have noticed that there has been some white smoke coming out of the tail pipes and when i turn on the heat after the car worms up it cold at very best it a little worm then today i was driven and it started to smoke under the hood so i pulled over and popped the hood and it was stemming from the over flow and the radiator cap and the smoke come out of the tail pipes smells like antifreeze so if it is the headgasket i dont know why it would go maybe a block in the cooling system or would a bad thermostat do something like this the other thing when the car was smoking the car was not over heated it read at the M on NORM dont know if that mean anything if anyone know what it could be and what I should do that would be a great deal of help around my way none know how to work on the car so thanks for the help everyone sorry for this post the way it written IM never any good at it thanks again for the help.
 
overheat

Hook a pressure tester to the radiator & start car. If the pressure climbs quickly , you have a blown head gasket, etc. Most Auto Parts stores have testers. A bad thermostat will take a while to over heat a vehicle (5-10 min.). Make sure you have no air pockets in the system.
 
antifreeze

You should have a yellow cap @ intake. Add coolant @ this cap to prevent air lock in cooling system.
 
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antifreeze

Behind upper coolant hose spout, left of alternator. / It has a bolt going down through the top like a boat plug.
 
the other thing i would like to know is has anyone had there headgasket go even though they were not getting on the car is there maybe some kind of blockage in the block maybe would anyone know about this kind of problem?
 
intercooled89xr said:
thanks for the help dose it sound like headgasket or could it be something eles?
Sorry, to me that sounds like a headgasket. Check the coolant for oil and the oil for coolant.
Mine just did that two weeks ago. It would stumble and blow sickly sweet smelling steam out the tail pipe. But at the time the oil and coolant where clean.
 
the oil and coolant did not mix yet thats y i do want to drive it but it was smoking out of the overflow and the radiator and that sweet smelling smoke out the tail pipes so i dont know what to do or what is the couse of this. thanks for the help
 
yeah i know that the hg is blown but i dont know wyh it went i did not beat on it and it only has about 3,000 miles on it i dont get it?
 
Could be many things a stretched headbolt, bad head surface,bad block surface, detonation,electrolisys, lean mixture or many other things.
You will have a better idea when you get the heads off.
 
intercooled89xr said:
yeah i know that the hg is blown but i dont know wyh it went i did not beat on it and it only has about 3,000 miles on it i dont get it?

I wasn't pushing the throttle hard when mine went either. It just seems when it's their time.... it's their time.

Rich
 
Not sure what "new" engine means but I have seen more than one 3.8 that was "rebuilt" but the head bolts were NOT correctly torqued.

A lean condition from a bad injector or a plugged cat from the previous antifreeze contamination can cause a cylinder to run excessively hot. Might also want to check and make sure that SC headgaskets were used as well. Also make sure that they were installed correctly. It is very possible to install the gaskets backwards which will cause them to blow. Front water passages blocked, rear ones full open.

Headgasket failure on the 3.8 is primarily a result of insufficient cooling and NOT from excess boost or abuse (although those can be contributing factors). Running on the "M" is too hot. That is about 220+ degrees. If any of my cars run higher than "O" then I consider it a problem.

Sorry about the luck. :(
 
thanks alot i htink it was runing lean and im sure the guy that did the work on my car messed up on something now i just have to know what to do with not to much money and on top of that no one that knows how to work on my car or that will even take the job. thanks again for the info
 
the factory fan doesnt kick on till around 228 so that sounds normal to me . i put in a 180 thermostat so it takes longer to heat up in traffic
 
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what i would like know is why it took this long to do this i have gone on long drives and it was fine i did just befor this happend went on on a kind of long drive it ran fine there and back but right after thats when i started not to have heat and the smoke started come from yhe tail pipe then a few days later that when the some came from over flow and radietor. i guess its just that i dont kno wmuch about how it work thats why i dont know ahy but i would like to know and it is hard to type out all this and tell everything that should be said you huys know what i mean but thanks for all the help i hope it sno tthat bad nad i can get it fixed thanks again. steven
 
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