Smoking Vents?

[Rosco]

Ok, im not sure exactly what is happening. It started yesterday, when i turned my car off i would get some moisture on the inside of my windshield above the vents. Well now I just got home from work, and the moisture started to appear again, but now there was white smoke coming from the vents for about 25 seconds. Any ideas?

[HotRoddin]

Originally Posted by Rosco

now there was white smoke coming from the vents

It's that pesky Knome in there with a bong

I'd look for a leaking heater core or maybe a freon leak ? Any strange smells ?

Rod

[exgmguy]

Bad heater core. It is a very common Mustang problem. If your car is a factory non-air car it is easy to swap. Otherwise plan on a Saturday to take your whole dashboard out.

[Philossifer]

Originally Posted by Rosco

Ok, im not sure exactly what is happening. It started yesterday, when i turned my car off i would get some moisture on the inside of my windshield above the vents. Well now I just got home from work, and the moisture started to appear again, but now there was white smoke coming from the vents for about 25 seconds. Any ideas?

Rosco,
If your heater core is leaking, the smell of antifreeze will be very strong and your windows will fog up quite a bit and stay fogged.

The white smoke coming from the vents might be ice cold water vapor when operating your A/C. It's fairly normal in humid climates but in your case, it might be that the evaporator drain is either clogged or partially clogged. The condensation from the evaporator doesn't drain, and gets blown through the vents as cold vapor (when the A/C is on) which is the white smoke you are seeing.

Another possibility is that your A/C is slightly undercharged which would cause the evaporator to freeze up. This would cause the white vapor too. But, eventually, if you drive the car long enough with the A/C on, there would be so much ice built up on the evaporator that it would block the air flow. You could tell if that were the case when you get little or no airflow, even with the fan on high. Then, if you turn the A/C off, as the ice on the evaporator melts, the airflow would slowly return to normal.

My guess is that your evaporator drain is clogged. From under the car on the passenger side, find the drain and run a wire coat hanger through it to unclog it.
Good luck,
Phil

[~The Jester~]

Originally Posted by Philossifer

My guess is that your evaporator drain is clogged. From under the car on the passenger side, find the drain and run a wire coat hanger through it to unclog it.
Good luck,
Phil

Yeah, what he said! CAREFUL with that coat hanger though!!! Don't want to poke holes in that expensive HARD TO CHANGE evaporator and/or heater core.

Like Phil said, that's a common problem down south, in high humidity areas. Try the easy stuff first, then go from there.

[Rosco]

Strange smells, none. The only odd thing is it was fogging up and puffing white smoke after being driven without the a/c and heat on. If it's a goddamn gnome, he needs to take bigger hits. Unfortunatly I am also waiting for my a/c delete kit, who needs a/c when you have a convertible. Also I was wondering, if it is a bad heater core, is there anyway I can bypass it? I only drive the car in the summer and have no need for heat.

[Rosco]

Ok, well here's a new development. I just took a 20 minute drive and after I turned my car off there was no smoke coming out of the vents and no moisture on the inside of my windshield. But I opened up my hood and there was radiator fluid bubbeling out of my resovior? Now I am really getting lost with what the heck is going on....

[mustangII460]

Bubbling is most likely a bad T-stat.

[Rosco]

so is there any possibility that the smoking vents and the bubbling fluid has any connection? Hopefully if i get a chance tomorrow i can get a new thermostat in.

[mustangII460]

It may anything is possible. Atleast with my luck.

Maybe it over pressured and caused a hose connection or core to leak. . Hopefully the core didn't go bad, they suck.

Change the T-stat. (Drill relief holes in stat) and then pressure check the system. Don't waste a new bottle of antifreeze, test with water first.

[Capri306]

I'm willing to bet his system overheated (or started to), popped a small hole in the heater core, and eventually built up enough pressure to start bubbling out of the radiator cap (which might have stuck shut).

Here's how I think things will go:
1. You're going to have to replace that heater core. Sorry, but that's how it goes on these cars.
2. Replace the thermostat AND THE RADIATOR CAP at the same time, as it's easier to mess with the cooling system once instead of cleaning up coolant twice. The thermostat for obvious reasons, and the radiator cap because it's a regular maintenance item (it has rubber seals and a spring, so it qualifies for a replacement).

[Rosco]

Now there's a little more to the story then thought. I cleaned out my whole cooling system, but i never got the chance to replace the thermostat. After I cleaned it out, everything seemed to be going fine. But now, the color of the coolant in the radiator is brown, i can visually see foam on the water when the cap is off. I plan on cleaning out the radiator in a couple days with cleaning solution so it's absolutely clean inside. Other then that the temp on the guage seems to stay constant, which is making me think that I need to possibly fix the sending unit? I'm not sure what it uses to detect the coolant temp. Also the other problem is, it does seem like i have a leak somewhere, I have to fill my radiator every couple of days, so I know this isn't going to be fun. I am also just thinking about throwing on another water pump when I clean out my system fully next time. My other question, is there any easy way to get the thermostat housing off? I noticed that the lower driver side bolt looks like it will not be able to be removed with the water pump still attached. Unless I am just seeing things that is. But I also have not gotten any bubbling since i cleaned out the system.

[Capri306]

Take it to a mechanic then, if you're not comfortable fixing it. Have him/her replace the thermostat, find the leak, etc.

[Rosco]

Oh I have no problem fixing it. It's just hard for me to find a time when i don't have to work one of my two jobs, and hard to find money right now to fix it. first thing im going to do is to replace my water pump and my tstat and go from there. Everytime I flush my system the water gets clearer and clearer every time, so im hoping that it's not also a head gasket due to the brownish/rust colored water im getting in the system.

[bailey_57]

ok as far as heater core, you can bypass it if you have to, i go with the plugged stat burst core idea same exact thing happened to me. heater core is a b***h. check the firewall, there is a drain for the heater core if it does burst, if its not there and its not on your passenger floor, i would bet its not the core. oh make sure if you have floor mats, pull them up and check. if its wet its def the core. let us know how you make out. heater core is only like 20 bucks, but pain.

[Rosco]

Alright, i got out of work early today so i had a couple hours to fool around with everything, but will be testing it all tomorrow. The car actually overheated on me going to a car show saturday, empty radiator, blah blah. So anyways, I bypassed the heater core, installed a new t-stat and gasket. Well i noticed the gasket wasn't doing much consider i was getting a pretty even flow of water out of the housing on the bottom. So i kept the gasket on there and used some sealant. Im going to wait until tomorrow to let it cure before i test that out. Im pretty sure this should take care of all the little leaks i seemed to be getting. I also noticed before that the heater core, or evaporator drain was pouring out some liquid when the car was off. The last thing, I haven't changed the radiator cap yet, i'm not sure what lbs to go with. The one that was on it i just noticed today is a 16lb cap. Im thinking it should be alot lower, maybe in the 6-10 range? Any ideas on that?

[Rosco]

well it seems like everything is fine so far. Have had the car at idle for about 40 mins now, it's warmed up, no leaks anywhere. So hopefully it should hold up fine. We'll see what happens when it gets extremely hot again.

[Capri306]

That drain you're seeing fluid come from is actually for the a/c evaporator, to let condensation from it escape to the outside. That's just a side effect that it'll also allow coolant to drain from it, if the heater core ruptures, albeit a cool one.

As for the radiator cap: it needs to be rated 13-16 pounds because this is what keeps the coolant in the system from BOILING! which is a VERY bad thing to have happen inside your engine. Remember, water boils at sea level and one atmosphere, at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Your coolant certainly gets hotter than this inside the engine; 195 degrees is when the thermostat starts to open. I can't remember the exact number, but it's around the neighborhood of raising the boiling point by 13 degrees for every pound of pressure you put on the system.

Many people think that the lower pressure caps will spare their failing systems from blowing more holes, but honestly it's not helping that much. If your heater core can't handle 13 psi, it's not going to handle 7 psi very long.

Okay, enough from me, I'm gonna go watch the fireworks outside the neighbors are lighting off.

[Rosco]

Alright, I have another problem now, and i have no idea how it is being caused. I am getting alot of air in my cooling system. i had to pull over earlier and let the air out, and when i just got back home the same thing was happening again. I fixed all the leaks prior, and ran the car with the cap off after filling the radiator again to let the air out of the system. I am curious to what is letting all this air into my system? could it be a bad cap?

[tmoss]

I hate to say it, but it may be a failed head gasket. Hope not, but keep that in mind and do a compression check.