1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
1. Its combustion gas in the coolant...you would see bubbles in the resevoir while engine is running. An exhaust "sniffer" at the dealer could also determine if coolant is being burned.
2. White smoke is water/coolant being combusted. Blue is oil being burned. I find this a poor test for determining a h.g. failure cuz its cold out and exhaust is always white when the car is cold. Some say smell the exhaust to tell if it is sweet...like coolant. My neighbors thought i was nuts doing this - and i still couldn't tell my h.g. was going.
3. Most mechanics can do comp. tests. This is the best place to start. It will tell which cyliinder if any is leaking past the gasket. Call around.
4. The switch is screwed into the upper drivers side corner of the rad. It looks like a big 29mm or so nut with two leads connected to the back of it. If your air intake has a split - past the AMM (don't know if you have NA or turbo) would cause all sorts of air/fuel problems - some of which can ape a bad h.g.
5. All of your problems can be blamed on the p.o. - but it doesn't help does it? P.o. maintenance and age of the car/mileage directly attribute to certain repairs. All things break and by 150K miles I expect to have replaced almost everything. H.g.'s are mostly due to overheating so if the p.o. overheated, the odds of a gasket failure within the next 100 to 40000 miles increase. Sometimes its just time because the gasket has eroded by age or inconsistent coolant flushes.
6. Good luck. I spend half my life trying do diagnose my creaks and squeaks. As soon as i replaced the harm. balancer, belts and idler pulley (for perfect squeak free running) I've developed a squeak in the horn contact ring and a mystery creak on accel (i suspect engine mount or control arm bushing). Clicks are almost always CV's BTW.
7. Only use NGK. Some like Bosch but NGK is the oem and last longer and more constistently than Bosch IMHO. Don't use crappy plugs, good ones are just as cheap and make sure the gap is correct.
Whew. I gotta get back to work.
Bryan m
'90 900
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