1999 Ford Escort SE - Leaking

[Ramarock]

Hey everyone. Recently had a problem with my car and I'm looking for some guidance. I do not know too much about cars so forgive me and I will try to explain as best as I can.

After coming home on an errand, right after I parked my car there was white smoke coming from underneath the hood of my car. I opened it up and saw some liquid leaking from the bottom of a valve. The smoke did not smell bad at all and the liquid did not have much of a scent either. I asked a few people and have been told it is just water that is leaking and from the looks of it the part is called the heater control valve.

I have tried to see if I could remove and replace the heater control valve but there are no bolts or anything to loosen it. It seems to be sealed on to a bigger piece which I don't know what its called. I have looked online to find out what to do but haven't had much luck and could not find another heater control valve to change for my car either. Any help would be appreciated!

[GTP Dad]

Welcome to AF!!

From your description there isn't any way I can tell where the leak is coming from. Is there any way you could post a picture so we could see where the water is coming from. Also make sure the car is full of coolant before driving and until the leak is fixed I wouldn't drive it too far. The engine is aluminum and if you overheat it you will be stuck with expensive repairs.

[Ramarock]

Thank you for the welcome. Here are the pictures I took.

Here's an overview.


Close up on the valve.


The leaking!

[AzTumbleweed]

I'm not familiar with your engine but that looks like a PCV valve to me. It should have air (vacuum) going through it along with crank case gases. The liquid you see should be crank case gases that have condensated back in to oil. It is not a heater control. This would not normally be smoking unless it were disconnected or a hose broken.

[AzTumbleweed]

I did some more checking and it appears this is just a vacuum port. The hose running out of the center leads to the PCV valve. I'm guessing you need the PCV valve replaced. This is probably not a big problem. http://0.tqn.com/d/autorepair/1/0/a/b/42349820.gif

[Ramarock]

Originally Posted by GTP Dad

Welcome to AF!!

From your description there isn't any way I can tell where the leak is coming from. Is there any way you could post a picture so we could see where the water is coming from. Also make sure the car is full of coolant before driving and until the leak is fixed I wouldn't drive it too far. The engine is aluminum and if you overheat it you will be stuck with expensive repairs.

Sorry I forgot to mention I did check the coolant and it seems to be full so far.

Originally Posted by AzTumbleweed

I'm not familiar with your engine but that looks like a PCV valve to me. It should have air (vacuum) going through it along with crank case gases. The liquid you see should be crank case gases that have condensated back in to oil. It is not a heater control. This would not normally be smoking unless it were disconnected or a hose broken.

By the time I stopped my car liquid was spraying out from the valve and it was spraying on to the engine which was hot so I think that's what might have caused the smoke.

Originally Posted by AzTumbleweed

I did some more checking and it appears this is just a vacuum port. The hose running out of the center leads to the PCV valve. I'm guessing you need the PCV valve replaced. This is probably not a big problem. http://0.tqn.com/d/autorepair/1/0/a/b/42349820.gif

Ah okay. I will look into finding this PCV valve. Maybe end up taking it to a mechanic but I would like to try to figure this out and save money ha ha. Another question I have is I tried to remove the valve but I couldn't budge it at all and I don't want to break it. Any suggestions? Thanks for all the input so far.

[AzTumbleweed]

I've rethought this and I may be totally wrong. (Sorry) Nothing should 'spray' from the PCV valve. Also I noticed the clamps on the hoses look like heater hose clamps. PCV hoses are held on by vacuum and normally don't need clamps. So I may be wrong on this. I'll see if I can find out anything else since I'm curious now.

[AzTumbleweed]

My neighbor has a '99 Escort. I'll go look at it later today and let you know what I find. I'm curious...

[GTP Dad]

I agree with AZ that should be coming out of that port because it is a vacuum port that connects direct to the PCV valve located in front of the engine. I would find the PCV and make sure it is not blocked also check the hose to make sure that it is not collapsing under vacuum.

[AzTumbleweed]

I checked my neighbors car and it is the vacuum hose for the PCV valve. That's probably oil that you are seeing. I think I would start with a trip to the car wash and clean your engine off real good then see what happens.