Car Smoking, antifreeze hot.?

Question

Okay, so i just bought a 1999 Oldsmobile Aurora. It has a 4.0 L V-8 engine with 133,000 miles on it. After driving it for a few weeks, i found out one night after driving ( luckily only after 5 - 10 minutes ) that there was smoke coming from the hood. I lifted it up, and the smoke was coming from the antifreeze tank, which was empty. Assuming running it without antifreeze did not blow a head gasket, would it be possible that it was smoking only because there was no antifreeze in it????? ( i know, i messed HUGE TIME running it like that, but it was supposed to be good til 150,000 miles, suppozively) And, like i said, the smoke was coming straight from the burning hot antifreeze tank. any help would be great. And please, don't just say blown head.................... i'll be screwed................ :(

Answer 1

You are confusing smoke with steam.  It's possible that it just overheated due to low water level.

It's also possible that you have a blown head gasket.  That will cause the water to boil in your radiator.

Just fill the water and take it a 30 minute drive.  Then park it and leave it running.  If it's a had gasket you will see bubbles in your little tank where you added the water.  

Answer 2

gm has had problems with that motor and the northstar with coolant leaks

water pumps / water manifolds / and head gaskets / and freeze plugs

if was mine i would check it for coolant leaks and check around the water pump/ water manifold area

also quick disconnect fitting leaks

use a coolant presser tester it will pump up the coolant system to about 16 psi it might have to sit over night and look for leaks

also there is a tool to find out if the head gaskets are leaking

even thow you DONT SEE BUBBLES IN THE RAD  does not mean

the head gaskets are not leaking

look close and see if you coolant is not leaking  

also the rad leaks on the pass side tank

just look close and take it slow

i would check for headgasket leaks first before you spend money

on something that is not going to complety fix the problem

hope this helps  

Answer 3

If there wasn't any in there, there was no cooling so that's why it smoked. Just buy antifreeze and fill it up and it should be fine. If you see further problems, then the engine must really be wrecked after that. Sorry, but good luck.

Answer 4

If you are not getting white smoke from the tail pipe i think you are in luck...go ahead and refill the system and start the car and let it warm up...if the temperature stays at normal drive the car and closely watch the temperature...if the car drives normal you still don't get smoke from the tail pipe you are in luck...from now on every time you change your oil use a volt meter to check the coolant...do this by inserting the positive probe in the radiator and the negative probe to something metal like the block or some other ground...with the scale set to 1 volt see what it reads...anything under .20 volts is good...when it gets above .20 volts that means it is time to be replaced because the acidity in the coolant is getting high and will start to eat the metal from the inside out as well as damage gaskets and cause premature water pump failure...as for the 150000 mile c**p its just that c**p...when you measure the voltage you will also be able to make sure the system is full and that should prevent any future problems