Possible Overheating, AGAIN!

[Firstymer]

Hi,

I have a few questions, as some of you guys know, I recently change my radiator on my 00' GP SE V6 3.1L and I still see a slight smoke coming from behind the engine block. I am not leaking coolant because low coolant and or temp. light is not indicating. So I reason I maybe put too much or not enough transmission fluid and its burning off or the motor oil is broken down after overheating occurrences and its causing the engine to slightly overheat. Likewise, does the upper radiator hose supposed to be soft or hard? Because I never change it since I recently change the radiator and its very soft to a point I can squeeze it with my hands and I was wondering should I replace my water pump? Because I think it may be corroded which causing it to not propel coolant into engine. Also, what is the psi for my radiator? Please provide your inputs, thanks!

[tblake]

Don't throw any more parts at it untill you figure out where the steam is coming from.

I suspect since you overheated it, you may have a leaky headgasket, causing the steam.

[Firstymer]

Thanks Bob! But how can I determine I have a leaky headgasket? And if so can I simply use steel seal to fix it?

[tblake]

Its Tim actually. No problem though, no offence taken. Bob (bnaylor) on the other hand already has the banstick all warmed up from an unrelated matter, so be carefull. LOL!

You say the steam is coming from between the motor and firewall? Or is it between the motor and the radiator? Best thing might be to just take a look. You may have to jack up the front on jackstands and crawl under, but you should be able to locate where the head meets the block and look for coolant seeping outwards. Otherwise you could rent a coolant pressure tester from oreilleys, pump up the cooling system to 16psi and look for leaks. However head gaskets sometimes seal fine cold and leak when hot under pressure.

Have a look behind your power steering pump, and also under your throttle body. Look at where the Lower Intake mates to the Heads. The 3100's are notorious for LIM gasket issues. I suspected your LIM as the leak culprit when I first read your radiator post.

There is a write-up on LIM gasket replacement on the 3100/3400 motor in the tips and maintenance subforum.

[Firstymer]

Thanks for the tips Tim!! sorry for the name mix up...lol. Anyways, I notice light smoke coming from underneath the ignition coil where the sparks plugs are attached i.e. behind motor mount and firewall. Likewise, I notice a leaking orange residue on the engine. I uploaded a pic of the leaking orange residue, can you please tell me what this mean and what step I need to take.

[tblake]

Looks like regular seepage/corrosion to me. Look further down under that hose and see if the mating surface between the LIM and head looks ok.

As for the steam behind the coils, it sort of scares me. Could be a head gasket issue.

[richtazz]

The orange residue looks like coolant seeping from the clamp on the bypass hose in the pic. This seepage can leak down the hose onto the lower area as well, or there is an o-ring where that metal pipe goes into the timing cover that could be leaking as well. On the smoke coming from the back, does it smell like oil, or is it a sweeter smell like burning coolant? Also, with as clean as your engine is, have you ever had the intake gaskets done on this engine?

[Firstymer]

Originally Posted by richtazz

The orange residue looks like coolant seeping from the clamp on the bypass hose in the pic. This seepage can leak down the hose onto the lower area as well, or there is an o-ring where that metal pipe goes into the timing cover that could be leaking as well. On the smoke coming from the back, does it smell like oil, or is it a sweeter smell like burning coolant? Also, with as clean as your engine is, have you ever had the intake gaskets done on this engine?

I never had the intake gasket done on the car since I purchased it from a private seller. The white smoke from the exhaust in the back occasionally happens, not all the time, I see the white smoke. I think the smoke smells like oil, I don't recall it smelling any sweeter like honey...lol. That bypass hose in the pic has that orange residue leaking from the areas where the areas is pointing at the top end and bottom end of that hose. I really had time to examine any coolant leakage, but I will do it soon as possible. I am not sure it the car is overheating still, but I still on regular getting that stupid rough idling at stop lights or on a down slope hill. I recall someone on here had the same issue with their 00' GP rough idling and they supposedly change the MAF sensor.

[tblake]

Check near the rear exhaust manifold for any plug wires melting to it.

From that pic, it looks like it was a leak at one point and someone replaced the clamp because that is not the stock clamp.

How many miles does your car have? If the LIM gaskets have never been replaced, the 3100's usually blow the stock LIM gaskets anytime between 60-100k miles.

You may want to change out the LIM gaskets, but i'd hate to tell you to do that if your head gaskets are blown as if you have the LIM off, its half the battle of head gaskets.

Pull your oil cap off, whats the bottom of it look like? Slimy tanish colord buildup? Also pull the PCV valv out of the front valve cover. Check that for that tan build up too.

[Firstymer]

The oil inside looks normal. I have to check out the PVC once I have time. Where is the exhaust manifold located to check for any wires melting near it? The car has 128,700+ kms. Hope this info helps!

[olopezm]

The exhaust manifold is the big steel pipe located at the side of each spark plug, there is one tube for each plug and they will join to a single pipe which connects to the catalytic converter and the exhaust pipe, there are two exhaust manifold, one at the front of the engine and one at the back of it if you have a V6, both will connect to the exhaust at the back of the engine compartment.

Here's a picture of what the exhaust manifold looks like, the lower one should be the 3100 engine:



Thanks to the original uploader of the picture