Smoke under the hood. Help!

[hokispokis77]

Ok, I'll go ahead and state that I know next to nothing about cars, so be gentle with me.

I just noticed a few days ago that my car started spewing white smoke from the grill and the break between the hood/side of the car on the driver's side. I only noticed this when I was at a stand still. My temperature guage is normal (not cold or hot). I noticed the smoke started about the time my temperature guage gets to about 1/3 of the way to the top (or half way to the middle mark, whichever works).

I talked to a friend's dad (who is a mechanic), and he said it's probably just leaking coolant. However, that's a lot of smoke to be billowing out my grill. I was just wondering what you guys might think/know what it is. I tried to get a whiff of what this smoke, but it just smelled like a garage to me. LOL I know that doesn't help. I know coolant smells sweet, but it just smelled faintly like burnt rubber.

Also, if you can give a cost estimate of the repairs for what you think it might be I would appreciate it.

BTW, I have a '96 Camry with 115,000 miles.

[nodrogkam]

have you checked under your hood at all? Its obvious if coolant is leaking and what not.

[hokispokis77]

No, I haven't. I wouldn't have a clue about what I was looking at or what I should be looking for.

[ToyotaToday]

Originally Posted by hokispokis77

No, I haven't. I wouldn't have a clue about what I was looking at or what I should be looking for.

My guess is it's coolant. But bring it in to a mechanic asap. It's not something I would want to wait until it gets worse. YOu have to fix it anyway so why not bring it in.

[TOYO-ED]

i guess a quick way to check if you're leaking coolant is look at the floor when you're at a stop. If you see a puddle...

[Gary_602Z]

My quess would be an oil leak as you said you know what coolant smells like. Have somebody check your oil right now before you drive the car again! Have them show you how to check the oil and then make it a habit to do it on a regular basis.

Gary

[eyeball96]

Radiator, more than likely has a crack in it, spuing coolant! You'll save yourself alot of cash, by educating yourself on the workings of an automobile!...this site is a good start!

[nodrogkam]

well before you loose your automobile, bring it to a shop. Do not continue to drive it with smoke. If it's a leak of any kind you maybe almost out of whatever that is, and that will cause major damage.

[hokispokis77]

Hey guys thanks for your feedback! I had my friend's dad look at it and he said that I will need to get a new radiator. Apparently I have a very small crack in my radiator. He filled it back up with coolant and said I should be fine to drive it for now. He told me to keep an eye on the temperature guage. I am just worried about driving to school (about a 40 mile round trip). It'll be embarrassing to see all these people staring at my car as it smokes.

How much does a new radiatior cost? I know it can be expensive, but I've been hearing "a couple hundred bucks." I'm a poor college kid...

Will definitely start learning about my car.

[nodrogkam]

hmm did he mention how small the leak was? There are such things as radiator sealants you can find at autostores, but in most cases it doesnt work unless its the smallest of cracks..and it isnt a permanent solution. Being in a cash crunch wont help. I'm not quite sure how much...
http://www.partstrain.com/products/R...YOTA~CAMRY.htm

that should give you an idea though. Keep in mind thats just the part, not the labor.

And yeah it's always good to learn about the car you drive.

[eyeball96]

I was right! Same thing happened to my 96 sedan, that how I knew!!

If I remember correctly, I paid about 325 to replace mine..try to get a rad without the plastic top this time.

I drove my camry for months with the leaking rad so you should be ok for a while. Just don't continue to drive if it overheats, keep a couple of gallons of h2o in the trunk

[hokispokis77]

He said it was a very small leak (and added that not much coolant is needed to create a lot of steam). I have been looking around at radiators and so far have found anything between $95 and $160. As I said, though, my friend's dad is a mechanic so he would either be installing the new radiator or having one of his friends do it for little to nothing (maybe a case of beer or a free lunch/dinner).

It would be embarrassing to drive around with steam spewing out my grill. "Eh, it's just my radiator, don't worry!" Haha..

Thanks again!

[Maim Menu]

Man, If you wanna learn about your car stick around here and get yourself a Haynes manual. Read it from cover to cover. I'm dead serious.

Before I got my cam maybe 6-8 months ago, all I knew about cars was the make/model and sometimes I could also point out a wheel from a headlight. Now I can diagnose a problem, and if I'm not going to fix it myself I will 95% of the time know when a mechanic is trying to screw me over by looking in my manual and doing searches here and on some other good camry forums.

Good luck.

[BlueFusion6851]

^This site is a great start... Classes are very beneficial as well. (I replaced my Rack & Pinion)
Our camry had a cracked radiator too, it lasted about... a week before it got so bad we had to bring it in. So I would get it checked ASAP.