Hello all. I am a new user here and am amazed at the wealth of knowledge here. Great forums. I'd appreciate some help...
I have a 1995 2.2L OBW with ~170k. For a while now I have been seeing (and smelling) smoke coming from the engine; specifically, I believe the engine is seeping some oil onto the manifold and the oil is burning. I am not sure if this problem is related to my overheating problem. Up until the middle of this March, I have never had any problems with my engine overheating. I had the TBelt replaced as scheduled (every ~60k) and serviced the car regularly. Then, driving on the interstate, I noticed my temp gague was mush higher than usual--almost to the red line. I pulled off, checked coolant, oil, etc and found no problems. I continued, but the gauge kept climbing. So I pulled off, went to a garage and removed the thermostat. This caused the engine to overheat even more quickly, much to my suprise.
A week later (it sat in his garage), I replaced the thermostat and the car seemed to operate fine. Then, while using it on the highway again, a repeat of the first occurence happened. I drove it back and parked it. I have used it a couple of times since, and have noticed 1) in city traffic, the temp gague goes up 2) at high speeds on the highway it increases and decreases at what appears to be random intervals 3) cooling fans work fine 4) hot, humid weather renders the car useless.
I know the coolant lines are bled, and have yet to check for emmisions in the coolant. My TBelt was replaced ~50k ago, so I am about due for another. Is this familiar? Any suggestions?
I appreciate it,
Mike
