st4rk

So I'm on my way to my friends house. Drive maybe 6 miles and get onto a fast highway. I go into vtec to pass a slow car and then travel about 65 mph the rest of the way.

Hit a stoplight, and all the sudden I see a little puff of smoke come from the front left part of the engine. White smoke, doesn't smell like anything. I then pop the hood, just to vent the smoke out. The smoke comes out for maybe 20 seconds, then goes away and it doesn't smoke for the rest of the day. The light turns red and I take the off ramp to a parking lot. On the ramp I notice the heat gauge is at red!!! NOOOO!!!!

As soon as I pull in the parking lot I pop the hood all the way and immediately inspect the engine. Nothing visibly wrong, everything looks and smells fine. Fans are working as well. No leaks from under the car either, car continues to idle perfectly and sounds fine. I did touch the main hose from the radiator and it was pretty hot, but I assume thats normal. The fluid levels were all fine in the car.

I get back in and it's now back at 3 bars, so I decide it should be okay for now to continue driving to my friends house. On the way I see a grocery store and decide to check the engine oil for the hell of it. Turns out it is very low on oil, so I put in 2 quarts of 10w-30. Today it is very cool outside. After I put in the 2 quarts the engine temp stays at a solid 3 bars just as usual all the way to his house.

Problem solved? Nope.

5 hours later I leave his house to go home. I get in my car, drive maybe half a mile and the bastard is already at 3 bars? WTF. Drive a little more and its now at 4 bars. I once again pop the hood to vent out the heat (if there is any).

Car runs perfectly fine all the way home, no weird sounds, no weird smells, no leaks, no smoke from the tail pipe. I put my hand in front of the tail pipes and the exhuast temp feels fine. On the highway at 60mph in 6th gear it's at 5 bars!

I then finally come to the slow part of town, it drops down to 4 bars. I go to a gas station and fill up. Once again at the gas station I pop the hood and visibly look at the engine. Looks completely fine, nothing leaking under it, no weird smells. Not even that hot under the hood.

I then start the car up and on the way home it stays at a solid 3 bars. I even went into vtec a couple times, but it still stayed at 3 bars.

So what the hell is going on? Car doesn't feel weaker or anything.

FISH22

damn, that is definitley wierd...maybe the thermostat??? i dunno! hell, maybe even the headgasket.

xviper

And in those 20 seconds, did you notice where the smoke was coming from? This might help to solve the mystery.

I see you have an '00. In the life of this car, has the coolant ever been changed? Has the thermostat ever been changed? Model year 2000 is the only year where the original coolant is good for the first 3 years, then muct be flushed and changed. If this was never done, not only has the coolant lost its ability to give you boil over protection, but its corosion inhibitors have likely all but disappeared and your thermostat is likely sticking. The old coolant may have also contributed to your rad cap no longer being able to hold pressure, hence the smoke.

Ek9

I would shit my pants of I ever found my car 2 quarts low on oil.

Couple things come to mind:

1) You need to make sure it's really overheating. It could be a sensor problem, the puffs you're seeing make me think the overheating's real though. An infra-red temp sensor and scanner would let somonw test that the engine really is overheating.

2) Quick changes in temp like that make me start suspecting the head gasket. Assuming the gauge is correct. You might want to get a shop to test the head gasket. Did you notice the overflow bottle? Was it full when the overheating was taking place? Bubbling perhaps? Overheating while highway driving's another HG symptom.

I agree with Viper, I'm just thinking it sounds a litttle worse than a stuck stat and/or bad cap. I'd expect maintainance issue to show slower changes in temp. You sure the radiator's full?

If you drive around much with an overheating aluminum motor, you'll destroy it. Cast iron engines can take it. Aluminum can't. Warped heads are just the start.

davidvonyork

i need to dig through my honda records and see if the 55 year old lady before me had the engine coolant checked after 3 years...im assuming she did being that it had EVERY scheduled maint checkup done to it. Never have gone over 3 bars heat wise, and i live in san antonio..HOT HOT HOT

st4rk

You might be correct on the head gasket.

I didn't mention that engine breaking was alot louder than normal I guess. Maybe even a little raspy sounding? Not for sure, it could just be my head.

As for when the fluids were last changed and why the oil was so low, I just bought the car on the 16th at Carmax. Silly ol' me figured Carmax took good care of it and I wouldn't have to check the oil until next month.

Nope. No idea how long I've been driving with low oil. And stupid of me not to check the oil right off the bat.

Luckily I am still on my 30 day warranty, so I will drive the s2k back there (it's a short distance slow driving), and tell them all about it, and they will fix it free of charge.

Thankfully the old rx7 is running fine so I'll have a decent car meanwhile.

st4rk

Oh yeah, and as for the location of the smoke. I couldn't tell, what I meant by "popped the hood" was I just pulled the hood latch to open the hood to vent out the smoke and let more air into the engine. I was sitting at a red light and couldn't get out of my car to check it right away.

All I know is if you were looking at your engine bay from the front, the smoke would've have came from the bottom right (or left side away from the firewall if you were sitting in the drivers seat).

I just wonder why it only created smoke once and very briefly.

gtfour43

I would recommend checking the coolant level again and make sure to have the vent open. Its a 12mm nipple on the front/drivers side of the head facing upwards. Open it then fill the coolant till it has no more air bubbles escaping. Top off the radiator then cap it. Run it to operating temp then cool it off completely then recheck the radiator level and reservoir level. GL


Oh I would also look into why the oil was 2 qts low. Maybe monitor it more often if there is no leak present.

xviper

Checking the coolant level doesn't involve "bleeding" it. You can check it by removing the rad cap when cold, ONLY if there is no coolant visible in the overflow tank. If there is coolant in the overflow tank, it's not likely that the rad cap needs to be removed except to check it for rated pressure. Oh, and to bleed it, just opening up the bleeder screw you stated is only 1/2 the job. There is also a bleed outlet on the top metal tube running from the heater core high on the firewall.
Being 2 or more quarts down on an S2000 is not an uncommon or strange occurence. Our engines simply use oil in many cases and it's perfectly normal. The usual reasons for why it's down any amount of oil is because the owner has not exercised due dilegence in checking it.

dhayner

[QUOTE=xviper,Sep 3 2006, 07:56 AM]Checking the coolant level doesn't involve "bleeding" it.