major problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About a week ago, I was driving along, I heard a noise that sounded like it was coming from behind my dash on the passenger side. I t sounded like a squirrel was behing there trying to scratch its way out. After i headr this, the service engine soon light went on. It stayed on for about a minute, then shut off, then my car started making this funny noise when I accelearted. That stopped after a minute, then it was fine. It did it again the next day, and then the day after that, I heard the scratching noise, then the service engine soon light went on, then my heater went cold, but it still ran fine. I then went home with no problems. Later when I went to work, It started fine, but there was a little hesitation, but then when i got out of work, it didn't start at all. Jumping the car didn't work, so I had it towed to a station. They found a gap in the spark plugs and a dead battery, which would explain the non-start, also the thermostat was fried, which explained the heater going cold, that also is what set the service engine soon light off, but now, It really hesitates when I start it, It chugs like crazy for a while, if I give it gas, it chugs like crazy until a certain point and then revs fine, and when I slow down and then accelerate, it slows down and can't accelerate for a few seconds, but then it catches and I peel out. I'm also burning anti-freeze, because i see white smoke coming out of the tail pipe. I noticed anti-freeze on-top of my water pump also that steams after I drive for a while because of the cold outside. I thing the antifreeze is backing up or is not flowing like it should and is spitting outin various places, like on top of the water pump and from the radiator cap. plaese help!! I am probably going to look for a new car, but want to fix this one up one day with a v6 motor. its a 89 cavy 2 door 2.0 4cyl. Mods so far include z24 hood, z24 side skirts, z24 door panels, z24 back seat, 94 z24 rims, 94 z24 spoiler, sunroof, shaved badges, pioneer indash cd, 6 disc changer pioneer, aluminum shiftknob, and more to come.

it sounds to me as if you blew your headgasket. Your hesitation problems could be because of the fact that since you blew the HG, your burning off coolant which is explaining your white smoke in your exhaust problem. You made a bad mistake of running your car with a bad thermostat like that, im thinking that the thermostat stayed closed which didnt allow coolant to flow through your block, overheating the motor and blowing your gasket. My best bet is to do a compression check to make sure your getting a high, even amount of compression across all cylinders, something similar to this: 145 - 146- 145- 150

A compression test will yield you results to whether or not you blew the HG, since a blown HG will drop the compression a very significant amount to one, or more cylinders depending on how it blew.

Sorry about your problems, sorry I cant help you more than that, hope you can fix your problems, good luck.

About your Heater not working, the reason as to why is because of the fact that since your thermostat was probably blocking the coolant from flowing through the block, the coolant would flow through the heater core, and the heater core rely's on hot coolant so when the blower motor blows air from the outside through the heater core, the heater core acts like a mini radiator, and the hot air passing through the fins is directed in to passages to the vents and out to you. Since the coolant was not flowing through the heater core, the heater core never got to a desirable temperature to allow hot air to come out, this is of course why when the motor is cold, hense the coolant is cold, that the heater does not blow hot air out. The heater solely relies on operating temperature coolant to allow the hotair to pass out through and to you.

good luck with everything.
So no nothing is wrong with your heater.

About your Heater not working, the reason as to why is because of the fact that since your thermostat was probably blocking the coolant from flowing through the block, the coolant would flow through the heater core, and the heater core rely's on hot coolant so when the blower motor blows air from the outside through the heater core, the heater core acts like a mini radiator, and the hot air passing through the fins is directed in to passages to the vents and out to you. Since the coolant was not flowing through the heater core, the heater core never got to a desirable temperature to allow hot air to come out, this is of course why when the motor is cold, hense the coolant is cold, that the heater does not blow hot air out. The heater solely relies on operating temperature coolant to allow the hotair to pass out through and to you.

good luck with everything.
So no nothing is wrong with your heater.


Just this morning (Monday) before I went to start it, I went to check the antifreeze level, because the guy at the garage said that there was a small leak somewhere. When I unscrewed the radiator cap off, it shot up along with about a couple of cups worth of antifreeze and it went all over everything, including me! It's almost like there was pressure built up and when I unscrewed the cap, WHOOOOOSH! The car was cold and the antifreeze was cold from sitting overnight. Also, the guy at the garage said he did a compression test and said it was fine but these might be the starting signs of a head gasket. When i try to start it, after a few tries, I can hear the antifreeze bubbling going into the backup jug from the radiator. it's almost like its backing up somewhere. There is smoke coming out of the tailpipe when I try to start it, and it smells like burning antifreeze, but the car has been sitting in the driveway in about 20 degree weather allnight. Another garage said it sounded like the head gasket, but if it is, I'm just going to get another car, but still keep this for a project though. Oh and by the way, the heater was fine when I was driving it the next day after it came back from the garage. I got it back on Friday night, drove it friday night to my bowling league, drove it to work on saturday, but on Sunday, it started chugging like crazy, and my dad said it was like a fog rolled in when he gave it gas. Now Monday morning it didn't start again.