Hey everyone, I am having a bit of an issue with my '99 Camaro. I am wondering if there are any talented people out there who may be able to point me in the right direction. I am going to list the known issues in bullet form so that you do not have to bother hunting for them in a gargantuan paragraph style post. :P Thanks in advance!

1999 Chevrolet Camaro 3.8l V6 98,000 Miles Automatic

[ul][*]Sluggish Response Time. Tends to lag a bit.[*]Distinct smell of either gasoline or oil coming from the car after use.[*]No leaking (major) of any kind. Very tiny droplets of dark brown on the garage floor.[*]After use of about 30 mins - 1 hour's worth of running errands, my garage fills with a cloudy haze of dim and faint white smoke.[*]The radiator fan is constantly going at full capacity.[*]No signs (gauge wise) of overheating.[*]Check engine light comes on every once and a while (day or two) then shuts off for another couple days.[*]No misfiring or anything.[*]Oil level is good. I keep checking the level under the hood and watching the gague to ensure so.[*]In my coolant overflow resivore the contents are of a murky brown color and seem to resemble "mud". I know this is must not be good.[*]On occassion, while stopped at a red light or in an idle position after about 30 mins or so of driving, I can see an extremely faint stream of white smoke coming up between the hood and windshield.[/ul]Any help at all is much appreciated and any further info needed can be provided. Thank you guys again.

~Anthony

 

does the oils look milky

 

Not that I recall, no. It seems to be just fine. The only milky sort of content is inside the coolant overflow resivoire.

~Anthony

 

Have you checked via the radiator cap, how much coolant you have?

 

Not recently. As dumb as that sounds. I will as soon as I get a quick chance. I am currently parking my camaro until I get the issues resolved. Thanks and I will reply about the coolant shortly.

~Anthony

 

Ok guys, so I got home and checked the coolant. I looked inside the "Engine Coolant Only" spout on the left side of the engine bay and it (along with the depth measuring stick) was covered in the same very murky brown colored substance that resembles mud. So I checked in the radiator and under the cap where u can look down inside and saw no liquid of any kind...simply crusted over fins that had the same exact substance on them. SO, with this new information, what else can I check for you guys?

~Anthony

 

There should be coolant in the radiator. It would be a good idea to flush it since it looks like mud. Does the temp gauge move up and down, or does it just stay low? If you're fans are on all the time, either A) your a/c is on, or B) your car is hot all the time.

 

Thanks man. I will deff do a flush. My a/c is never on, so it must mean that my engine is running hot, however, the temp. gauge doesn't verify this. From cranking the camaro on I notice that the temp gague stays at 0 for a few mins and then works it way up to about dead center. I have never seen the temp gague read that it is overheating...and trust me, I have been keeping a good watch on it. Any particular reason that the coolant would be muddy looking? Is it oil leaking into it? Or is it simply an old radiator that has collected dirt and grime over time?

~Anthony

P.S. Thanks again for your help bro.

 

Corrosion... Mine was the same way when I flushed it.