92 Loyale EA82 SPFI 87,000 miles

 

The other morning I started my car to find the very noisy lifter sound for the first time. I didn't have time to do anything about it so I left for work using the high rpm to clean out the oil passage theory. The noise went away soon after.

 

On the way home, I exited the freeway to see a small cloud of smoke coming out from under my hood. I checked under the hood when I got home to see I had sprung a coolant leak somewhere on the right hand (passenger) side of the engine. This same side has been experiencing a small oil leak for the past few months.

 

There is no coolant anywhere on the top of the engine. The radiator hoses and the heater hoses all look good and any other small hoses I can trace look fine. The crossmember had a small puddle of coolant on it and the smoke seems like it was probably from coolant hitting the catalytic converter. The bottom right side of the engine looks as though I tried to wash off the leaking oil with coolant. The radiator is still topped off so I don't think I'm loosing a whole lot of coolant.

 

I took the car for a test drive today and found I still get smoke off the catalytic converter after a drive. The car ran fine, good oil pressure and it did not overheat. When the car is running in the driveway I cannot see any active leaking anywhere. Between yesterday and today there are only a couple of small drops of coolant under the car.

 

Does this sound like a gasket on the cooling jacket of the engine? Thanks...

there is a small hose that goes from the top of the engine block to just under the carb/TB, that could be your culprit.