Started my '88 this morning and got a lot of white smoke and a very rough idle, so I shut it down. Did have a severe flooding problem about a month ago. Has new plugs. Concerned about driving it to work tomorrow.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

Blown coolant seal I would imagine.

 

What's that mean, and what do I need to do? Is it serious? Thanks

 

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, let's troubleshoot this properly, OK?

With the car STONE COLD, remove the rad filler cap. Start the car and then walk around to the front and look through the open cap at the coolant. Do you see a steady stream of bubbles coming from somwhere in the engine? Now rev the engine by grabbing the throttle arm at the throttle body. When you rev, do the bubbles increase or coolant gush out?

If the answer to both of these is "yes", then it sounds like one of the coolant o-rings in the engine has failed. Unfortunately, this means the engine must be rebuilt to correct the problem.

 

is it turbo or non?
if it is turbo the coolant passages on your turbo that seperate from the oil passages might have cracked due to heat and is leaking coolant into your compressor or exhaust half of your turbo causing your engine to smoke!

 

I thought you had to wait for the thermostat to open for this. No?

 

It's a non-turbo. Thanks guys, I really appreciate your help. If it's a major problem, there will be a '88 with 134,000 miles for sale. It's really in great condition and my daily driver.

 

Nope. The thermostat has a jiggle pin that allows bubbles to pass...

 

Thanks Aaron. So much misinformation out there.

 

what if there is no steady stream of bubbles, but coolant does gush out?