Steam from under dash and a/f gauge led's stuck in lean

[snowmansdsm09]

Both of these started off when my radiator fans power wires came undone and fans quit working on the way home from work. My car overheated on the way home, causing my
o2 sensor to quit working (turned white)... I then changed my o2 sensor and fixed my coolant leaks, fans and changed fluid.

When I drive my car home from work now, I see steam coming from under the dash....?
Doesnt smell like ecu capacitors, and makes no noise.... the sun has to hit @ the perfect angle to see the steam, so its not very much.

Also my air/fuel gauge led's are not bouncing back and forth, so does that mean my NEW o2 sensor isn't cycling?

 

[squeak104]

Your steam is probably from your heater core. Do your windows get a film of something on them? If they and when you try to wipe it away and it smears like vasaline then it is your heater core leaking. And if you have an auto i'd change your tranny fluid because if you overheated your engine then you most likely overheated your tranny fluid too. Hope this helps.

 

[snowmansdsm09]

Your steam is probably from your heater core. Do your windows get a film of something on them? If they and when you try to wipe it away and it smears like vasaline then it is your heater core leaking. And if you have an auto i'd change your tranny fluid because if you overheated your engine then you most likely overheated your tranny fluid too. Hope this helps.

Nope, I get no fogging of the windows @ all. And yea, I have an auto! I'll change my tranny fluid.

I'm having no other symptoms of anything except the steaming.. no smells, noises, or fogging.

 

[gurmanator]

like squeak104 said...heater core...there is only one thing that makes steam inside the car and that is the heater core...or is it smoke?

 

[snowmansdsm09]

like squeak104 said...heater core...there is only one thing that makes steam inside the car and that is the heater core...or is it smoke?

I'm 95% sure its NOT smoke, it looks to clear to be smoke. Plus it has no smell at all.
If it is the heater core, can I bypass it for good? I dont use my heater or A/C... I live in houston, tx !

 

[squeak104]

You can bypass the heater core by taking the two hoses that go into the firewall for the heater core and hooking them together. Make sure you clamp them together good so they don't blow apart under the coolant pressure. If you have any coolant in the tranny fluid like it looks milky, you gotta flush the tranny and replace the radiator. Good luck.

 

[snowmansdsm09]

You can bypass the heater core by taking the two hoses that go into the firewall for the heater core and hooking them together. Make sure you clamp them together good so they don't blow apart under the coolant pressure. If you have any coolant in the tranny fluid like it looks milky, you gotta flush the tranny and replace the radiator. Good luck.

Ok, I thought I could do that. But, can it stay like that forever? I read its a "temp fix"
I dont use my heater though, so I don't see why i would need it.


Any ideas about my a/f gauge staying around lean?
I'm thinking my filter on my fuel pump may be a little too dirty/old.

Does anyone know where to get just the filter for the pump?
Its a walbro 190....

 

[GSsilentT]

Your steam is probably from your heater core. Do your windows get a film of something on them? If they and when you try to wipe it away and it smears like vasaline then it is your heater core leaking. And if you have an auto i'd change your tranny fluid because if you overheated your engine then you most likely overheated your tranny fluid too. Hope this helps.

Not to jack this thread but im having the problem where steam comes from my dash and out of all my interior vents. Especially after like a 30 minute drive, by the time I come back to my car, the whole front winshield is fogged. When I wipe it, it smears. I don't have an auto. So when you say the problem might be a leak in the heater core, where does it actually leak to?

 

[femmeDSM]

Not to jack this thread but im having the problem where steam comes from my dash and out of all my interior vents. Especially after like a 30 minute drive, by the time I come back to my car, the whole front winshield is fogged. When I wipe it, it smears. I don't have an auto. So when you say the problem might be a leak in the heater core, where does it actually leak to?

That is definitely, 100% your heater core.
Eventually coolant will leak onto the passenger side floor board, if it hasn't already. Pull the passenger side panel from under the glovebox. There will probably be some coolant there. If not, you've caught it in time. But the heater core will need to be replaced or blocked off, regardless. Coolant will kill your carpet, trust me.

 

[femmeDSM]

Any ideas about my a/f gauge staying around lean?
I'm thinking my filter on my fuel pump may be a little too dirty/old.

Does anyone know where to get just the filter for the pump?
Its a walbro 190....

Your A/F gauge is nothing more than a Christmas Light display. I'd say it can be safely ignored. If your O2s are not cycling, it would cause the gauge to not read anything (i.e. all the way lean, all the time). Does the gauge cycle at all?
My crap A/F gauge (came with the car, and I'm too lazy to pull it) stays lean until the car starts moving. Once I get past about 2.5K it'll shoot up to stoich/sometimes rich. But it usually reads lean, even though I know it's not accurate (thanks to my logger). I just ignore it, honestly.

And about the fuel filter....I honestly haven't seen these for sale individually. Contact one of the vendors around here (Slowboy, etc). They might have an idea of where you could get them.

 

[GSsilentT]

That is definitely, 100% your heater core.
Eventually coolant will leak onto the passenger side floor board, if it hasn't already. Pull the passenger side panel from under the glovebox. There will probably be some coolant there. If not, you've caught it in time. But the heater core will need to be replaced or blocked off, regardless. Coolant will kill your carpet, trust me.

Thanks for your help and for the quick reply. I'll be sure to let you know if it fixed the problem. Is there anything else I should consider while replacing it? What benefit will come if I block it off, instead of replacing it? Is that like a temporary fix?

 

[femmeDSM]

Thanks for your help and for the quick reply. I'll be sure to let you know if it fixed the problem. Is there anything else I should consider while replacing it? What benefit will come if I block it off, instead of replacing it? Is that like a temporary fix?

I'd recommend replacing it. That would be better in the long run, although it's quite a bit of work (i.e. pain in the a$$). The only thing "temporary" that I can think of about blocking it off would be the fact that you have no heat. I can't think of any other negatives, but then again, I've never blocked mine off before, so there may be side effects that I'm not aware of.

Edit: If you ever ran into cooling system problems where you started overheating, not having a heater core could be a bad thing, since you can't use your heater...I dunno. That's all I can come up with. I'm out! Lol.

 

[GSsilentT]

Here is the heater core removal that I'll keep update on my progress. It took my whole damn weekend just to replace. Keep in mind I had a chilton manual and the steps say, remove dash, remove heater unit, then remove heater core. They make it sound so simple. I tried removing the heater unit from underneath without removing the dash but, there are no shortcuts on this job, well here are some pictures of the chaos.

Here's a removal of every single interior panel

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The tiny heater core that caused this mess

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Now im ready to re-assemble

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overall, a very tedious job, one extra screw, but now no coolant in passenger carpet and no fogged up windows. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[GSsilentT]

I'd recommend replacing it. That would be better in the long run, although it's quite a bit of work (i.e. pain in the a$$)

This job took my whole weekend, and yeah it did get in my carpet I had to use my heat gun for atleast an hour just to dry everything up. But thanks again for telling me the exact problem. It's already been a week since, and there hasn't been any mysterious draining of coolant or unwanted steam on my inside window.

 

[femmeDSM]

Damn........Just..............Damn.



I feel for you, man. I haven't had to take on this task in my DSM yet (*knocks on wood*), but I've had to do it a couple of times in Euro cars, and let me tell you......a weekend is nothing. Took me 4 days in a 90 Volvo 740Turbo. (I swear to god, they must have built that entire car around the heater core. I had to take apart *damn near everything* to get to the stupid thing...)

Good thing you had your trusty Chilton Manual to guide the way!

Anyway, glad you found your problem, and glad to hear you got it fixed. Nothing like seeing your hard work pay off (and learning something new in the process )


As an added bonus, just think of all the money you saved by not taking it to the shop! $60/hour x (1 weekend) = $Bend Over