V6 Smoking HELP!!!!
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 39
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From: whittier California
V6 Smoking HELP!!!! My sister called me and told me that her car (01 3.8L V6) was smoking. I popped the hood while the car was running and it looked as though there had been some oily residue on the passengers side collector flange. I thought I had identified my problem, but I let the car run and it looked as though the residue had burned off but it was still smoking.
The car runs fine, no engine lights, shifts fine, has had the maintenance done (I do it) Im wondering what it could be??? Leaking/cracked manifold? Engine oil leak? Any ideas? Any help is much appreciated.
The car runs fine, no engine lights, shifts fine, has had the maintenance done (I do it) Im wondering what it could be??? Leaking/cracked manifold? Engine oil leak? Any ideas? Any help is much appreciated.
Isn't the oil cap on the passenger's side, somewhere on top of the exhaust system? I'd ask your sister if that may have been removed recently-maybe it was loose. If not, can you sample the "oily" residue? You should be able to identify what substance it is that way...
Sounds like its time to replace the intake manifold gasket. Does it smell like burnt coolant by any chance? The 3800 Series II on the F-bodys is known for that problem. That happened to me when i owned my V6 back in the day and a few of my friends too.
I'm gonna guess and say it's not coolant because, unless the coolant was just flowing out of there, the coolant wouldn't survive long enough on a burning manifold to leave an oily residue, let alone a smoke trail.
The 'OP needs to sample that residue...
The 'OP needs to sample that residue...
