93 Passat smoke under hood

Hi all, just bought a 1993 VW Passat GLX V6, 170,000 miles. Looked good, test drive for half hour in various conditions.

Drove for two days before white smoke started coming out from under the hood and through the A/C vents; temp light came on. Pulled over immediately and had it towed to my mechanic.... who was on vacation.

Next day drove it a few blocks to Jiffy Lube and on the way it smoked again. I stopped and checked the coolant level and there was hardly anything in the damn thing! Construction guy on the road dumped water into it and I headed to Jiffy Lube; changed oil, told them about what happened, they said they filled the coolant and I should be alright just have it checked when my mechanic gets back. Sure enough not halfway home the smoke started from under the hood again.

It looks like smoke, not steam. Under hood every time and through the vents the first time while A/C was on; left A/C off after that. Hard time distinguishing smell; kindof burny possibly electrical but I'm not real sure.

Took it back to my mechanic who got home this morning; right off the bat he found a coolant leak where a hose connects to the thermostat housing.

Could there be something else going on as well? Any questions I should ask my mechanic? What do you think I should expect? I want to do some research on my own, not just take one person's word for it - you never know.

Thanks much,

Cris

Reply to
crystalmae
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If the "smoke" stops, I'd be inclined to accept the explanation. High-pressure leaks from the cooling system sometimes do look like smoke. And they may have some smoke, since the glycol in the steam may vapourise enough of the oily grunge on your engine to cause some of the oil in it to smoke.

Reply to
Andrew Sullivan

Reply to
RepairJunkie

Reply to
RepairJunkie

Reply to
RepairJunkie

Cris,

Reminds me of the first time I sprang a heater hose.... Here's the rundown: blue gray color is oil black color is fuel white is coolant These colors are usually coming out of the exhaust pipe when something goes wrong, but in your case (coming out from under the hood) it's the cooling system leaking. Be very careful -- If you run it low on coolant and it over heats too much, you can crack your engine block, warp your head ( a your crankcase head that is...) -- put your hat back on.... And removing the radiator cover while the engine is hot may release spattering steaming pressurized coolant that still remains -- so cover it with a heavy towel doubled up and look out.

Good luck

Reply to
RepairJunkie

Reply to
wolfsburgnut

And if there's leakage around the T'stat, the infamous plastic crack pipe and monkey heart! WTF were they thinking?

Ron/Champ 6

1963 8E5 Champ (Champ 6) 1995 VW Passat (Vanilla..yuk) 1994 Volvo 850 (Tilley) 1973 Volvo 1800 ES (Hyacinth Bucket)
Reply to
Ron

maybe but VW I think had that fixed by then...my '91 Mk2 got recalled for that in late 1991 so by '93 I'd hope they would have the Passat sorted out.

Reply to
Matt B.

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