hey everyone. i was driving to work this morning and i noticed my maverick made a weird clunking noise as i was stopped at a stop light. i didnt think much of it, plus i had to get to work so i continued driving. as i reached the next intersection, my car began to smoke a little. i was already almost to work and so i drove it and parked it and opened the hood. it looks like the radiator was smoking and there appeared to be some fresh oil on the fan. im at work right now so i cant go outside, but i get off in an hour. i spoke with my dad on the phone and he says that i need to add antifreeze to the radiator. my sister said her boyfriends nissan made a clunking noise as well before its engine blew. what do you think is wrong? my sister should be coming over when work ends and she will bring some antifreeze and we wil check that. im almost positive my car is fine on oil because my dad and i just changed it a few weeks ago, but i plan to check it when i get off work. suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated. its currently 11am here and i get off work in one hour and i only have access to a computer here at work.
oh and i also am not very mechanically inclined by the way. i know basic stuff i.e. changing oil, etc but not much beyond that. thanks guys
first thing would be to make sure there is oil on your fan not coolant.then check your oil level as well. you state it is oil, but i definately hope it is coolant instead . if it is just coolant i would refill it as your father suggests and then check to see if you can see where it is leaking from. if there is a hole in one of your hoses, you will need to replace that. if there is a hole in your radiator, if it is near the top you might be able to limp it home if you cant afford towing. check your radiator cap as well, if it was not tightened correctly or is old it may not be holding enough pressure. if you havent done so already, i suggest adding an overflow tank. also look for coolant coming from the water pump or engine block when its running. while checking your oil and coolant, make sure there is not light brown sludgy looking oil in either. the clunking could just be missing due to the distributor getting water in it from the spray. hope thats all it is, but keep us informed:confused:
not enough info! does your fan still turn freely or has it broken off the water pump shaft? when you say fresh oil...have you broken a trans oil line?check your oil before starting,you should check your oil every week regardless!! look at everything under the hood before starting and try to listen for noise after its running....keep us informed.
i only had about 5 miuntes to really examine the car this morning because i had to work. the fan was still turning freely though, that i know for sure. it looked like oil to me was dripped on the fan, i also noticed a few oil drips on the cement after i had just parked the car. i dont know for sure if it is oil though. im just assuming it is because it was brown on the cement. i'll check the fluids, oil and antifreeze. how do i check to see if i have enough antifreeze? i wish i knew more about cars. unfortuantely i don't. after checking the fluids and possibly adding more antifreeze (lets assume the oil is fine in the car), what should i do? try to start it up and listen for any noise? thanks guys, i REALLY appreciate your help. of course my car has to do this when my parents are out of town. luckily i've got my sister here, and YOU GUYS otherwise I'd be pretty freaked out right now. well actually i am. my maverick is my little baby, so this kind of stinks.
as waynes suggests, check the metal lines to your radiator and transmission for any leaks, that fluid will be pink. then look at the fluid on your actual fan on your finger to make sure which it is. the oil on the ground could just be washed off the outside of the engine by coolant. check the coolant and oil like i stated and look for signs of any sludgy light brown oil in either. do not start the engine until you have checked them all, and do not open your radiator till it is cold to the touch.when you open the radiator, you should have liquid visible above the holes inside there. not quite full though. you can stick your finger in the coolant and see if it has oil sludge on top instead of just coolant. check the dipstick for that sludge as well. if all of these look ok, check your hoses and radiator for holes or gashes. you might have just had a boilover, but better safe than sorry.
will do! i'm printing this out right now so that i can read all of this when im outside. the radiator should be cool because the car hasnt been running since 9am this morning. so i should be okay with that. thank you very much. im here till 12 so ill be checking periodically for another fifteen minutes or so.
When my car needed a new radiator cap, it would always sound like a clunking noise when it boiled over. Then it would continue to make these smaller clunking noises for a while after and you could actually feel it the radiator hose and stuff vibrate/rattle when it would clunk. If it's brown liquid you badly need to flush your cooling system. Next time it does it, CAREFULLY remove the radiator cap and see if it's foamed up any. I'd put money on it thats antifreeze on your fan and stuff.
depends on the type of brown liquid, rusty brown water is just a flush indicator, light brown oil is a blown head gasket or water jacket.
I checked the oil and the oil was just fine. My sister came over to my work and we added some coolant because there appeared to be NO coolant. My dad was on the phone telling us what to do and it seemed fine. However, the hose that connects to the radiator at the top is leaking coolant and there is also another area at the top of the radiator that is leaking coolant as well. We filled up the radiator with coolant and water as my dad said to and started it up. It seemed to be doing fine, so my sister followed me home just in case something happened. I was almost home when the car started smoking again! Just the radiator is smoking though. I opened the hood and noticed coolant (I'm assuming it's coolant) was splashed all over my fan and the bottom side of my hood. It's also still leaking, but I can't open the cap because it's still hot. I just took some pictures and I'll upload them shortly here. I'm not going to drive it anymore till I get this problem taken care of. The liquid or coolant that appears to be leaking does not seem sludgy at all. It looks clean, like the coolant I just put into it leaked out. I'll go upload those pictures now.
You may just have a cracked radiator hose or the radiator itself may be cracked. Either way I would flush out the cooling system while you have it apart. If it was a head gasket or water jacket it should be bubbled up when you pull the cap. You can pull the cap when it's hot, just put a rag over it and turn it counter clockwise a little. It will let off any pressure and then you can take it off.
i agree with jamie... sounds like a hose... since you know you have to replace one... might as well do them all... better to drain the block once and do it all right... if the lower rad hose goes, it will dump out all coolant in less than a minute and then the engine could have a melt down.. upper hose is around $10 lower hose is around $14 1 gallon of coolant... and mix for your climate.. since you are on colorado... i would run at minimum 55/50 ratio... but..since it is that cold.. get with someone in your area... you dont want it to freeze over on ya.. and also... check and see what the clunking noise is... if you already said what it was in an earlier post and i missed it..sorry good luck
I don't know if me and my dad will be able to tackle this on our own- Would you recommend having a professional or someone who knows what they're doing handle this? I mean, my dad isn't completely clueless, but I'm not exactly sure if he's ever done something similar like this before. Oh yeah, here are some pics.. check out my mad MS Paint skills. They look bad, my apologies. But I don't have time to make them all fancy. http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/alaygra89/khgjhgjgh.jpg http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/alaygra89/gthgfhf.jpg lolol Anyway, I made it home safely and luckily don't have anywhere to go today.... my parents will be coming home (they are out of town) tonight, so hopefully we can get this all fixed and stuff.
