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Hey guys,
I need to get to the bottom of this. 86 trans am with a 305 tpi with 123k miles. Whenever I go out to it in the morning I usually need to add coolant if I drove it the day before. Only a bit though. When I start it it burns smoke which I believe is oil from the valve seals because it eats oil sometimes.
The radiator is new, wp is new, therm, therm gasket, all cooling system parts are new besides the hoses. Could the lower hose be to blame? I don’t have much clearence to look under it to determine if it is leaking. No visable leaks when sitting to the blind eye. Any opinions?
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If you can’t see anything after it has been sitting it could just be leaking when the system has pressure in it. I would go to your local auto parts with a rental program and pick up a coolant pressure tester kit. If you’re still having a hard time locating the leak the next step would be UV dye but most likely the pressure tester will show it. Hoses can harden then split at the end or swell then split around the clamp area, sometimes only leaking when the pressure starts to build up.
Sounds good, that was my next purchase! I just checked and I think it burns on startup only because I drove it a lot and it got hot. Parked it. Only little bit missing. But the smoke smells a lot like oil. And no smoke after initial start :/
The smoke is a totally separate issue from the coolant. My car did the same thing until I finally put a head I rebuilt on it at 192k miles. It’s likely worn valve stem seals, no big deal that can wait until you’re interested in dealing with engine work. As far as the coolant hoses go, I’ve replaced many leaking radiator hoses that look like a wizard sleeve on the end after the hose clamp.
Edit: This is my 500th post. It’s a big night.
If the valve stem seals are original they might just have dried up and cracked, they make better replacement ones like the Fel Pro Viton ones. Check the guides though as it is common for those engines to have worn guides in short time.
[quote=”Fopeano” post=131922]The smoke is a totally separate issue from the coolant. My car did the same thing until I finally put a head I rebuilt on it at 192k miles. It’s likely worn valve stem seals, no big deal that can wait until you’re interested in dealing with engine work. As far as the coolant hoses go, I’ve replaced many leaking radiator hoses that look like a wizard sleeve on the end after the hose clamp.
Edit: This is my 500th post. It’s a big night.[/quote]
Exciting 😀
Anyway, yeah I knew about the valve seals the moment I bought it. I don’t mind that at all really. Could the lower radiator hose leak only under pressure? I will probably just replace it but wanted to check. Had a heater core replaced also and I don’t feel any leaks.
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