98 Voyager overheated white smoke come out. need advice

[weiv2000]

my 98 voyager died today, it has an overheated problem about 1 month ago, I replaced the relay, then it seems running good until today. When I stopped my car in the parking space, I heard a noise coming from the front, sounds like something was boiling. I guess it was the coolant, but when I look at the temp guage, the temp was right at the middle, seems normal to me, but next second, lots of white smoke come out under the hood, but no burnt smell, and the coolant spill over over the floor.....smoke stops about after 10 mintues. what should I do next?? please advice.

[vipergg]

Sounds like a blown head gasket which won't be cheap to fix . Time to take it to someone knowledgable . They will have to dissassemble the top part of the engine to fix it and that assumes that the head isn't warped or something like that.

[taillight]

Fill with coolent and see where it is leaking out. It just might be a bad hose leaking on the engine.

[RIP]

Did you see white vapor coming out the tailpipe? If so, it's a blown head gasket. Oil in the coolant is another indication. If not, follow taillights suggestion.

[weiv2000]

there is no smoke come from the tailpipe. Massive leaking happen when the coolant was boiling, giving high pressure to the hose to explode, is this the reason? and the temp gauge showed normal temp. while the cooling was boiling, and again fan was not working at that time(replace fan relay just a month ago). my qustion is ... is it worth to fix it? call toll truck to toll the car to radiator shop, have them quote me the price to repair or let go( not worth to fix if need $1000 to repair).

[taillight]

You might be able to fix it for the price of a hose.

[webbch]

OK, gotta ask the dumb question.... How did you know the coolant was boiling? Was it boiling in the overflow tank or did you remove the radiator cap?

I didn't see in your post as to where in the engine compartment specifically you noticed the major leakage coming from. This would help immensely with identifying a likely cause. I would agree that a hose come loose or even a missing or defective radiator cap cannot be ruled out with the information given thus far.

[weiv2000]

I did open up the hood and notice the the coolant was boiling like hot water, the radiator cap was there, and there was coolant leak under the coolant reservoir but not alot, most coolant leak under the engine of the driver side, and the white smoke came from there too, so I guess it was the coolant steam

[weiv2000]

I took my car to mechanic this morning, he told me I need a new radiator and lower hose. The radiator is unquie design, order from chrysler about $300+. Total work include parts and labor is $630. Is the deal acceptable?

[RIP]

If the radiator is what's termed "heavy duty", then the $300 sounds about right. Normal rads go for around $150. Plug your info in here to see one example: http://www.makeitmopar.com/. The total of $630 seams a little high but, not unreasonable, that is, if it's an HD rad. Shop around.

I don't see a need for an HD rad unless you have a tow package and tow regularly....IMHO.

[weiv2000]

he told me it is NOT "heavy duty", just regular but unquie design need to buy from chrysler that what I 've been told

[weiv2000]

Went throught makeitmopar.com, 98-00 Radiator, all models, 3.3l, 3.8l, w/o heavy duty - 3.3l, 3.5l, 3.8l - 3.3L, 3.5L, 3.8L is $140.25
Lower hose, all models, 3.3l, 3.8l, w/o heavy duty - 3.3l, 3.5l, 3.8l - 3.3L, 3.5L, 3.8L is $22.63.