ok my car just started being retarded. i just got back from about 20 min. of driving and as soon as i turned the car off, steam started pouring out of the top of the hood near the windshield, on the passenger side. i opened the hood and saw there was a ton of steam pouring out of something in the area in the picture below. it smelled strong of antifreeze, and i checked and the water resoiver was almost completely empty. so i guess something finally cracked. the car just turned 120,000 yesterday so i guess this is around when the first problem should happen. so any ideas what it could be? anything you know of that usually goes out first? any help would be appreciated.

 

Bro it's kinda hard to tell you what happened to your car..need a touch more info. But I will take a stab at it. Maybe a hose or freeze plug?? Pull your dipstick out and check for a milky substance..if found you might have a blown head gasket. What was the temp gauge reading?? Look for the obvious first then go from there.. Good luck bro.

 

Might be the heater valve leaking onto your header. That is what you put a box around.

 

ok guys, i got some more information....first off i think i found where the steam was coming out of. that black cap in the bottom right of the picture...when i push down on it hard, the steam stops coming out, and when i let off of it, the steam starts back up. i don't have a clue what that thing is though. oh yeah, i checked my oil and it's fine, not milky so it's not a blown head gasket. i took it out for a drive though and the car was overheating BIGTIME. the needle, up until today, has always been right in the middle, but tonight it was completely past the red. i got home as quick as i could to keep something from burnin up. any ideas what could cause my engine to overheat? i was only driving it for about 15 minutes when i noticed how hot it was. my engine fan is still goin so it's not the reason the engine's runnin hot, but after checking that, i don't have a clue what else it could be. damn i hate my car not working...any help would be appreciated

 

just like rezinn said it's the heater valve. nothing major or hard. just get another one for about $12 and be done with it.

 

so is the heater valve the reason for the steam AND the overheating? is the heater valve that black cap in the bottom right of the picture?

 

Hey guys
Im in the same boat man, I know how it feels, ok well if any one cars this is my story....
Driving for like 15-25 min and started getting a bad smell, antifreeze i guess, well i pull over and steam was poring out of the area near the passanger side front of the car by the radiator. Same thing though it keeps overheating easily and the fan wont kick in. I trided the air trick and even letting it run up to 245* and it still didnt kick in.
Im wondering if the fan motor is bad, does this valvue thing control the fan in any way?
any other ideas?
thanks
Please save a fellow TGO member from having to take it to the car doctor

 

the symptoms sound the same as mine, but if we really both have the same problem, then it isn't the fan cause mine's kicking in and the engine still is overheating. i had to drive home from a friends house a couple minutes ago, and i could actually watch the temp needle going up. after about 2 minutes, the car had gone from completely cool to way past 260*. i had to stop halfway home and let the car sit for a while cause i don't want to melt my freakin engine into one piece. so yeah, i guess i'll try out taht heater valve replacement and see if it does the trick.

 

check you fan realy, your coolant temp sensor in manifold on tbi and check the fan motor itself. my fan motor went out in my car at 118,000 miles. had to change the fan realy too cuase it burnt up tryin to power up the fan. runs better than new now. it's been running good for a year now.