My friend has a '92 Camaro RS with a few engine problems. His first problem is he seems to have a coolant leak, his coolant level was really low in the resevoir the other day, while just the week before it was fine. I think this may be leaking from the hose into the water pump tho, because both top and bottom hoses feel really soft, and there are a few bulges, and the hose into the water pump was wet, but it didn't seem like coolant, I wasn't sure what it could be tho, it felt a little slimy and looked like dirty water (it was black and brown stuff in it that seemed like dirt and not oil). The other problem is while the engine is running, after a cold start, the compressor kicks on and off, and every time it kicks on you can see a lot of tension is added onto the belts and the engine almost stalls and then it idle's really low, but once it kicks off its fine. After it warms up the compressor kicks on without a problem, but it sounds like a rattling noise is in the pully, so I think the bearings might be going in that. Third problem is when the car is idling there is a barely visible white smoke coming from under the engine on both sides next to the valve covers. On the drivers side, it seems that on top of the exaust manifold there is an inch and a half maybe in diameter pipe that opens up and comes up for about an inch. The smoke comes from there on the drivers side, I don't know if anything is supposed to be attached to that or if that is a vent of a sort. On the passenger side, I don't see any specific place the smoke is coming from because it is under stuff, but it appears to be coming from between the space between where the valve cover is and the exhaust manifold. It smells like burning antefreeze, but its also close to the exhaust manifold on both sides, so I can't tell if its an antefreeze leak thats burning on the manifold, or if antefreeze is burning in the engine somewhere, and coming out the exhaust and there is an exhaust leak near the manifolds. His exhaust from the tail pipes is also white, and really thick when he starts it cold. I'm not sure if this is indicative of a head gasket problem or not, his oil seems to be free of antefreeze, and his antefreeze seems to be free of oil. Any help or thoughts would be appreciated, thanks
Also his oil pressure gets really low. At idle from a cold start it stays just above the red, and then as it warms up gets between the first white tick and 30.
03-13-2006, 12:40 AM
Smoking is bad... especially blue smoke!
Fill the oil and check the gas, please.
