Okay, I drove my GTA up a really nasty hill, stop-n-go traffic, to go look at another car to purchase. The gage hovered at around 245 the whole way up until I was able to get some decent speed, then it fell back off to a more acceptable 210 or so, before I had to park. I estimate it was running hot for a good ten minutes. It didn't puke coolant, it started right up later and I drove home without incident. That was Friday evening.

The car sat all weekend, never ran. I didn't think twice about it.

Today, Tuesday morking, oh-dark-thirty, I start it up and notice the temp gage climbing really fast, much quicker then normal. I kill the car and pop the hood. As I get out of the car, I notice the remains of lots of white smole behind the car. I turn the car back on and look. Yup, smells like coolant. Kiling the car again, I immediatly check my oil, but it looks like normal oil. I feel my radiator, and it's cold. So is the upper radiator hose, so I start thinking that my thermostat (180-degree unit) has finally quit, after a mere fourteen months of life.

I pop the cold radiator cap and peer into the radiator. Gee, sure looks empty... I top it off with the car stopped, then I start the car and top it off again. Must have used a whole gallon of purified water... My exhaust smoke/steam/whatever was less thick. I shrug and drive to work. Temp gage doens't do squat, all my readings are normal, throttle response is good, no unusual noises, ect. I arrive at work and leave the car running so I can see if I'm still sending big clouds of vapor out my exhaust. Nothing, not even a smell of coolant.

I'm about to commit into buying another car, but if I have issues with my current daily driver, I'm not sure if I should proceed.

Any suggestions? What can I check, using simple tools, without taking it to a shop?

 

UPDATE:

Drove it home from work yesterday, no problems, no smoke, nothing.

This morning, I got a little bit of steam, smelled like coolant, but nohting else. After getting to work, htere was no steam or smoke coming out of the exhaust again, and no smell. Weird.

 

I'm not am expert but sounds like you lost coolant slowly (water pump?), until the engine overheated. My guess is that you may have lost a head gasket between water jacket and combustion chamber. Check you plug color.

 

My sister's 84 had the corner of the intake gasket on the #2 cyl go. It didn't milkshake the oil either which was wierd. I'm with siggy check plug color, maybe rent one of the radiator pressure testers from autozone, fill the radiator up and pump about 15-18psi. check for visiable leaks, or wet plugs.