Tracon

Don't get me wrong Miles, he plans to look at it in more detail tomorrow, but as of now the oil leak is coming from the valve, however, he does plan to look at it all and if it's just that then great, but he will need to replace everything including the bands for the alternator which were about to give. She's an older girl. with 97278 miles on her, I asked how much more life she has and he said, "easily this thing has another 100-250K more miles. Plus I get offers from high school kids all the time wanting to buy her because of the options you can have. Once I got a little more cash I want to fix her up much more nicely giving her some body work and a new paint job and one hell of an engine cleaning lol, doesn't help living in the southwest.

Alright, finally got the answer, so it ends up being the crankcase. Mechanic noticed a small leaking of oil running out a valve and thinks the oil dipped out towards the oil pan and that fell into the exhaust while running the car. Which explained how I saw drops of oil from the pan but no leak. He's going to keep in for a 1-2 two to make sure he knows if its coming from the top or bottom and then replace what he needs and go from there. Looking at $80-$400 bill depending on where it's coming from and how much work and that's the friend discount ouch.

Well a 2nd mechanic thinks I have a leak. He thinks it's the head gasket because there is no visible leaking of anything. There is no holes on the converter or the pipes leading to it. The smoke itself is coming from the pipes coming out of the engine, halfway to the converter. We did about a 5-6 mile test drive and light white smoke was visible coming from those pipes. So I hope this other mechanic can verify that if it is the head gasket or something other then that. As for the axle, we checked that and it wasn't throwing out anything, in fact the book was dry after an earlier test of 2-3 miles at around 60-70MPH on the freeway. Plus the smell was coming sweet, so he think for sure it has to be the gasket and it's letting the coolant leak into the cylinders and then pushes that through the exhaust and hence the acrid/sweet smell through my vents I got from time to time.

So, I had the mechanic look at this and well he thought a tiny leak of coolant was the issue but after more tests the car still smoked. (He fixed the coolant leak) We traced it to the exhust leading to the catalytic converter. He thought I may have a clog in there, but I had the converter checked and they said it was perfectly fine and all of them said it was a leak. I looked for a leak, the mechanic looked for one and nothing at all. After driving the car a little, smoke was visible at those pipes under the car leading to the converter, some tiny bit of smoke coming out from the bottom of the converter, but more from where the pipes at the bottom lead toward the converter coming from the engine. Any ideas where if anything.

So I took a little trip and stayed at 40mph the entire time and when I got where I was going I noticed my car was smoking slightly from the right passenger and right hood side. When I opened the hood to see where it was coming from the smoke seemed to be coming close to the firewall but a little down where the axle boot is above what looks to be a grey/silver container I'm guessing the converter. I got a little water and spilled it on there and it sizzled and smelt a little sweet hitting the container, smelled slightly rubbery/sweet.

it's funny you say that because that right axle boot was already going. A friend told me to have it replaced ASAP because it was on the verge of ripping entirely.

Not sure entirely of the heater core, but I can say I hope not as well because it's a pain and costly. But if this helps, this winter I wasn't able to use my heater in the car because it was pumping cold air. The heater had worked before, so not sure if that's a clue or not. Plus the carpet is not wet and the smell is not everytime I drive the car or turn on the air, it's just happened when the car smoked.

Subie, I thought it might be it, but I just don't see anything dropping from it ever but then again why do I need to fill my coolant. I do have 50/50 in the radiator and tank and I keep an eye on her to see whats going on and I just don't know where it is if it is leaking. Do you think I should leave the card on idle with the air conditioner on to stress the engine more to see where there might be a leak?

Well I've thought I might be losing oil, but I have no idea if I am because this smoking issue has only ever happened two times and the thing is over the last 2 months I did need to fill the coolant tank to the full and this has been in a cool and hot engine. If I'm losing that I haven't a single clue. Now, I can say that having my air conditioner on I have noticed that there is a acrid maybe sweet smell coming from the vents. I've smelt that on the two times I ran the car this way. When the car is idle I just don't see any puddles or anything other then those spots I've showed on the pictures. My knowledge on cars is beyond embarrassing for a guy... trust me, I hate it, but maybe I can get a clue as to what this might be. I'll keep looking about to see if I find any other fluids while driving it. Like I said, only has happened running the car hard on the freeways, never once driving the car on normal streets in the city.

I have a 1995 Subaru Impreza with under 100K miles. So far my car has smoked 2 times since I've had it. When I drove my car at a high speed for a while 60-70MPH freeway my car when I slowed down was smoking from the engine, from under the car, the back, everywhere minus the air conditioner vents. The two happened with similar issues: Driving for a while on freeways, both times my air conditioner was turned on. (My air does put strain on the engine but never has smoked driving on city streets going under 50 most of the time.) I have checked fluid levels on the car. Transmission level is normal, powersteering is good, oil checked while engine was hot and oil was right at the F. Coolant reservoir tank was on low while the engine was hot and I have had to fill the tank up several times over the last 1-2 months because the tank seems to drop and never stays the same. The temp gauge in the cockpit is steady and not showing hot or cold, right in the middle. There are no warning lights appearing. 2 times this happened it has been very hot 95-105 degrees air temp, possibly more on the street but never has happened anytime before even with my air conditioner on but it was not nearly as hot. I ran a check a little while ago and let the car sit idle and turned on the air conditioner. I've posted several pictures via flickr and a video showing what seems to be the compressor stopping and stalling and then starting again and also what is the oil pan and a white object next to that (sorry my knowledge of cars is below what any guy would like) both spilled a few droplets of oil during this event. In the set are also pictures of the spot and my fingers having touched the fluid. I can't be sure if any of this is the cause. I checked to see if there are any cracks or rust spots on my manifold but I don't see anything. Pictures here: Please help if you can http://www.flickr.com/photos/juju_bean/

Okay, ran a test. I heard the vent switch and that seems to be working fine. Now under the hood I was able to see the heater core lines and the one the driver side one going inside the car feels strong and in good condition, the other one, if I touched the passenger side one seems to be a different kind of hose, not soft, it's a hard plastic, maybe it wasn't a line to the system at all. Ran a car test for 15 minutes, The engine of course stresses a little while the climate system is on and I checked for the vent switch and it's audible enough for me to say that's not the problem. I allowed the car to warm up to normal operating temp reved to 2K RPM to speed it up a little. The AC when on it chills the car wonderfully, however when I put on heat the temp doesn't turn cold nor warm, it's just a cooler air but no heat in it at all. Ran the heater for a little bit but never warmed up, but once I switched to AC it quickly turned into cold air. At the end, I went to the engine again ready to close it up, but I then touched the driver side hose going into the car and the hose was hot to the touch. Not sure if that means anything, but that hose was indeed hot.

Okay. This sounds stupid but can you all give me a relative location of the heater core. The car btw has normal temps no overheating at all. Thanks.

Hey guys, having a bit of a problem with my car heater and not sure what to do. I'm not as car savy, but I am learning. So, plain and simple my car is a 1995 Impreza 2.2l and the car heat is just not blowing hot air. The coolant levels are great, nothing is missing and I have tested the coolant to assure that it works and its not old, so its good stuff. Just when I put my car heater on, it's just blowing cold air, I hear the engine stressing as it normally would with the climate control on, but nada but cold. It's been really cold down here in El Paso, Texas and it would be nice to have the heater working, but not sure. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Thanks, yeah I figured I would just keep the volume from jumping any way past 50% Not that I listen to it that loudly anyways, but at least now I know it's safe. I want to invest in speakers, but I think I'll need to get a consult on what would actually fit being it is an older car.

Guys, would love to have some help. I am by far not a car person and even less with car stereos. Since I've had my car, it's been amazing and I've learned more, but this I don't know and was hoping to have some help. My car is a 95 Impreza, LX 2.2L, 2 Door. She has a tape/radio player on board in a single din, with a single pocket above it for tapes and lighter and ashtray under the stereo. Now I got for Christmas a new car stereo and the instructions on it call for 50W output value on the speakers and 4-8 impendance value. I can't speak for the two front speakers in the doors, but the back two speakers are 30W each and 6 impendance value each. So they meet that requirement. Now, the stereo just stresses/cautions 4-8 impendance and only mentions once the 50W output value. How can I read this exactly. I don't know what my front speakers are (any help if you know their stats) but can I have this stereo installed? I know my back two speakers are under the 50W at 30W each, but does that mean I should just becareful on how loud the stereo gets? Keep in mind, I'm not looking to make this thing call attention, I really just want to plug in my mp3 player into the jack the stereo includes or listen to some burnt CD's. I don't really need this massive system, just something that I can use and isn't old tapes. Please any help would be very appreciated. Thank you.