Drivin an 86 turbo coupe. The guy i got it from said he never had the heat up past 1/2. Today it was dangerously close to the red. Checked radiatior and it was fine and plenty full. I was driving her kinda hard but not that hard i didnt think... any ideas on what i should check? I popped the hood and it looked like a real faint white smoke was coming out of the passenger side near the back of the engine bay... Thanks

 

Sry this thread is kinda sparse... in a hurry... more info later.

have any brown foam/scum on your oil cap?

 

maybe the thermostat has decided to be uncooperative

1/2 or more is not good. Flush the rad with a garden hose and install new coolant, and a 180 deg. thermostat. If that doesnt solve it...time for a new radiator.

Okay so i took her back out after it cooled and shes fine... no overheating. Once i park it it gets real hot again im guessing because of no air flow? The smoke is almost definately coming from this foamy stuff covering a metal pipe in the back passenger side kinda deep down. So what im thinking is shes not over heating while i drive just after i park and the smoke is caused by the foam and so shes really alright? any input would be awsome... thanks

sounds like the coolant return line from the turbo. it's rubber with a foil insulator wrapped around it. it's a dealer part, less than $20. i believe it's easiest to change if you take the turbo off from the top. you should consider changing the crossover pipe and dowmpipe exhaust gaskets off of the turbo with it, and definitely change the oil return line next to the coolant return line, all of those are dealer items. it might be easier to reach the hoses from under the car with the passenger axle pulled, but try taking the turbo off first.

Great thankyou:)

Whatever it is thats causing it, you had better fix it soon. You DO NOT want your engine to overheat that often. You are bound to blow a head gasket, if you havent already.

 

I would suggest removing the radiator, spray water through the fins to clear any crap out. Then backflush it a couple times. Also replace the thermostat, and make sure both fans are working properly.

 

Im not sure about your turbo lines etc... but i do know that an overheating EA82T=bad things for the future.

 

-Brian

Okay soo... i checked the rad again today when it was totally cooled... now that im back home i can actually do stuff to it. So i was reading my haynes service manual thing and it says that the coolant should be all the way up between e and f on the coolant resevoir. The resevoir was bone dry so i added water... waited a bit and bubbles started coming and water went down. So i kept adding and adding and it finally stabalized but the bubbles werent just from the hose they were from the rad meaning it wasnt full. Is just this enough to cause it to overheat? Tomorrow ill take the rad out and blast it free of debris etc. Still i dont know about that smoke though it smokes even when the temp isnt that high just from this foamy covering on the metal pipe right to the left of where the spare is. It looks like it comes from the rad and goes towards the firewall then dips down and theres a LOT of space around it.... Oh well