The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support Morrison Fabrications
Please Support Rix Racing

car took a dump on the highway

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Dominasian

Proven Member
136
0
Jan 30, 2013
Aurora, Colorado
So i was driving down the highway about 80 mph, as i was approaching the exit i sent a strong smell of antifreeze, thought that maybe one of my hoses got disconnected, right away started to see the temperature rise. Kept it at about 60% and drove like that for another 5 miles till i got home, when i got home and was about to park my car, the temperature started rising dramatically and i just turned off my car to let it cool down, when opened hood i still had a smell of antifreeze but now it was along with oil. after about 10 minutes i rolled my car back a little to check the substances it leaked and noticed that there is absolutely nothing wrong with antifreeze, although i had a little puddle of oil on the ground. Next day i jacked the car and noticed that a turbo oil cooling hose got disconnected and right away thought that it was an issue, connected it back and decided to take for quick test drive with 1 quick launch: i noticed that from a cold start the car took for ever to warm and it actually never did after 1 pool (outside temperature was about 60*)
immediately after a quick pull i parked my car in the garage and saw a trail of oil behind it, looked underneath and it was bad, i had oil all over my garage. Night before, car was outside and didn't show any signs of leakage, but only after a ran it, it decided to take a dump. Anyways, me and my step dad decided to lift the entire car on 3 jacks and run it on 1st gear to check where the leak is coming from, believe it or not we couldn't figure out exactly where it was coming from, but if was dripping somewhere from left side of the engine, down after exhaust manifold. The only thing we guessed was a huge bold that goes to the engine ( i don't even know what it is, but like i said it is located right underneath exhaust manifold on the left side ).
What could possible have happened to the car ? what is the bolt that i am talking about ? What are possible ways to fix it ?
The car is ready for the upgrades but is now sick due to this oil leak.
If i wont find the answer, do you think it will be easier to give my car to like a grease monkey and let them do the check ups ? i dont care even if they will charge me, i need the car as soon as possible as it is my daily driver. I can try and take pictures of that bolt and the area around it, and post it if that going to make a life easier for you to answer my question.
 
like stated that is coolant line. If your car overheated and you are leaking from there mybe you blew the headgasket and its mixed oil/antifreeze. Do a compression test and see what results you get.
 
By feel of a substance it feels like oil, but i noticed that some of it is black although i changed oil like 2k ago, and some of it is clear like new. absolutely no signs of antifreeze on the ground. So if we eliminate that bolt then it pretty much explains the head gasket damage as it is burnt when it is leaking, am i right ?

I know that when you have a blown head gasket your exhaust smoke should be like blueish color, due to the combustion mixes. Mine is fine, i have absolutely no smoke coming out of the exhaust.
 
Tell me if i am guessing right... I was on the highway boosting, i know that my turbo cooling hose came out... With that say, is it possible for a turbo to start sucking in Hot air and blow head gasket ? Usually if its a blown head gasket, then oil wont leak much like mine. I also noticed that when i was driving home i turned on a heater to let the engine cool a bit, but what i noticed is that air was much cooler than it usually is. Could that be a heating core ? is that cheaper to fix ? Do heating cores leak oil so much from head area ?
 
If you blow a head gasket it can cause the car to pressurize coolant lines and blow them off. If the substance is clear mixed with black spots you have a blown headgasket. What psi were you running, do you have headstuds, and when was the last time your headgasket was done.
 
If you blow a head gasket it can cause the car to pressurize coolant lines and blow them off. If the substance is clear mixed with black spots you have a blown headgasket. What psi were you running, do you have headstuds, and when was the last time your headgasket was done.

I am running stock psi 11-12 on T28. The mixture color is like dark chocolate, but very few drops of like new oil (clear, maybe it is mixed with coolant) but very few drops, not like the entire mixture is mixed color. I bought a car 2k miles ago, so i haven't done it, and i don't think the guy did it.
 
i have the same issue with my talon but it ended up leaking down from the corner of the head gasket. just because you are running low boost your car could spike like mine and lift the head. In my case im just doing a complete rebuild to fix the problem.
 
I'm going to give you my honest opinion, and I'm not trolling. You should go ahead and take the car to a mechanic. The car should have never been running in gear on just jacks, that scares the shit out of me that people actually do stuff like this. I'm not trying to be an ass or anything, just honest.
 
just because you are running low boost your car could spike like mine and lift the head.
I don't think a t-28 has enough in it to lift a head on one of theses cars. Most people aren't lifting heads until they are in the 500hp+ arena.

I'm going to give you my honest opinion, and I'm not trolling. You should go ahead and take the car to a mechanic. The car should have never been running in gear on just jacks, that scares the shit out of me that people actually do stuff like this. I'm not trying to be an ass or anything, just honest.

I've done that plenty of times. I guess I should have a mechanic do all my work for me now?:rolleyes:
 
Everyone is missing the main point here...
He drove on the highway and smelled coolant. The car was overheating and he continued to drive it. Many have done this but it gets dangerous.
He then tried to find a leak and couldn't. I wonder why... the coolant was already GONE.
He then was launching it and driving it to test it....

There are several BIG mistakes here that most likely led to more damage then there should have been.
But its a mistake or 2 that more then one person has made.
I am sure this will be a learning experience he won't forget.
 
I've done that plenty of times. I guess I should have a mechanic do all my work for me now?:rolleyes:

So your saying its safe to run a car in gear on only jacks with no jack stands? :confused: I guess when the car falls off when its running in gear that its just darwin doing his job. :hmm:
 
So your saying its safe to run a car in gear on only jacks with no jack stands? :confused: I guess when the car falls off when its running in gear that its just darwin doing his job. :hmm:

Lol, I guess I missed the part about it being just floor jacks. Yeah, that's stupid as ####. I'll agree with you on that one:thumb:
 
So my car is at my mechanics right now, and he hasnt figured out what happened yet because he is too busy right now "that time of the year, when cars decide to break LOL", so i was doing a little check up on the car. After what happened i drove the car to his place which is about 5 miles away from my house. No overheating, no oil leaks occurred. 2 days later we decided to worm up a car and see if we can find anything that will lead us to a solution, and again we didn't find anything, no smoke from exhaust, no overheating issues. The only thing we noticed is a smoke from underneath the exhaust manifold, smelled like oil/plastic burning. That's about it, and even that could just be oil that was leaking last time. Before taking the car to the mechanic i was pretty sure about blown head gasket cause i found a milk shake mixture when i opened the radiator cap, but that's about it, my causing said that it could be mixed with like "stop leaks liquid" that they sell at auto shops.
 
By the time your stock temp gauge shows its overheating it's pretty much too late. Have you done that compression check yet? Since you kept driving it after the gauge showed some signs of temperature rise it's a pretty good bet that it could be the head gasket.
 
i had this happen to me and i thought it was a HG. after i fixed the coolant line (to turbo) the leak went away and car ran fine again. however when the hose came loose i noticed as soon as the temp went a tick over halfway, killed the car and fixed it right then and there.

when i thought the hg was blown it really was puking a good amount of oil from what appeared to be between the head/block in the front corner (opposite of timing). but like i said after the turbo coolant line was patched it stopped leaking and hasnt leaked since i cleaned it off to see if it would come back.

no further problems since then. got the car tuned @ 20psi and have been driving it since with no related issues. if i were you id get some arp head studs and put them in through the VC rather than pulling the head. its not 100% fix but if you came close then it could help. thats what im doing next.. only 100$ for the studs and if it doesnt fix the problem they are still reusable if you end up pulling the head.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Everyone is missing the main point here...
He drove on the highway and smelled coolant. The car was overheating and he continued to drive it. Many have done this but it gets dangerous.
He then tried to find a leak and couldn't. I wonder why... the coolant was already GONE.
He then was launching it and driving it to test it....

There are several BIG mistakes here that most likely led to more damage then there should have been.
But its a mistake or 2 that more then one person has made.
I am sure this will be a learning experience he won't forget.

Unfortunately, when you run the car at a high enough temp the aluminum head start to warp. A spike in temperature can be caused by a depressurized coolant system, allowing the coolant to boil and dramatically raise temperature. However, once the head gets hot enough and begins to warp it will allow a tiny tiny tiny gap in between the head and block. Through the head and block mating surface there are water jackets and oil passages. Most likely in your case the oil and water jackets are able to mix due to seperation. Which is why you are seeing chocolate milkshake in your radiator cap. Since the head is loosing pressure at the head/block gasket your coolant system will start to boil from losing pressure.

Unfortunately, you are most have a blown head gasket judging fron the milkshake blend. I have had sudden spikes of temp however from torn radiator hoses spewing pressure and bad waterpumps. But from you symptoms it is time for some ARP studs, nice new headgasket, and your current head rebuit and planed.

Hope this helps
 
yeah bro bottom line is any time that needle goes over operating temp you need to turn the car off and not turn it back on until the problem is fixed. it will turn a 5$ repair (new hose) into a 500$+ project.

good news is that since your head is coming off you have a lot of opportunities to make improvements. if i were you id completely build the head. springs, lifters, cams, polish ect ect. throw it back on with a cometic headgasket and ARP head studs.. youll never have to worry about the head ever again.
 
Honeslty yall jumping to high. Trace your oil leaks and fix what ones you can, then trace and find all little coolant rubber hoses then check coolant levels and see what happens from there. Start small get all the little things taken care of then see where your at. If everything is fine then you will be ok if it seems worse then get deep and talking pushing coolant and changing head gasket's and what not. Try doing a compression test and leak down test see if everything is good. Try to save a motor don't just toss her in for botox. xD Here's a link get under there and get dirty let me know what happens. http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-engine-fuel/338152-compression-leak-down-testing.html
 
Thanks for all your suggestions. I've talked with my mechanic and even his friend who does subarus, they both told me that the engine needs to come off and be resealed everywhere, which will cost 3500$ (this is how much they are going to charge me), and this is the reason i took my car back home because it was my mistake in first place, getting into this mess thinking that i am a GOD mechanic and will be able to fix everything my self, haha :). Now the car is waiting for another mechanic who is a friend of mine and works with Nissans. I told him the situation, and he suggested to flush radiator fluid and put new 50/50 in it. Mechanic said that, with water inside the radiator instead of coolant it will bubble anyways, so flushing will be my first step. Hopefully the car is going to be inspected on Saturday, but i doubt they will find anything because there is absolutely nothing with the car so far. And doing that 3500$ work, i can buy a re-manufactured engine 6bolt for 3500$ with installations, so i see absolutely no point in doing the whole reseal thing, just seems pointless to me.

Yes i did ran a car with a slight high temperatures and from many peoples experience it will not damage the head or gasket to the point when it needs to be changed, I understand it is highly suggested not to do so, but i just want to eliminate the problem without doing all that. It i absolutely agree on doing upgrades to the head while i am on it, but then its another 500-1000 in parts which is just too much for my budget right now.

Now many of you are going to judge me due to not doing things correctly. I have a character, when i want something ill go and get it, but at this point i learned my lesson. To tell you the truth, while the car was at the mechanics, i was thinking about getting rid of it because i started to hate not having a normal DD, well u understand how big of a hassle it can be not having a car. But as soon as a sat back in the car, i just cant resist it. I like it too much to get rid of that easy when i already have almost 10k into it (Haven't even done anything to it LOL)
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top