Lots Of Smoke

Hey.....I was driving my 96 XJ last night and was passing a semi, so I punched the accelerator. A little later, I got some real bad smoke from the engine. I drove it a little more to get to a safe place, and then it just died on me, with smoke pouring out. I could not start it at all after that. I got it towed back to my dorm, and just went out this afternoon and started it again. I drove it down to the gym and I can smell a "burning" smell from the engine, and I was parking it, and it died again. It is not my oil, because it is reading that I am fine with my oil level. I have no idea what would be wrong with it, any help would greatly be appreciated. Oh, and I could not really tell where the smoke/steam was coming from because it was dark out. Thanks for any kind of help in advance.

IAN

What colour smoke?

Blue = oil
Black = carbon
White = coolant (steam)

I can't tell from your post, did you check the oil level on the dipstick or using the pressure gauge?

Is there anything visibly leaking under the hood?
I get smoke and a burning oil smell when my leaky valve cover gasket drips oil onto the exhaust manifold.

is anything rubbing up against the exhaust?


just a few thoughts

-b

You may have blown the Head Gasket and are losing compression through that. It will leak fluid as well.

Thank for your help so far. I will check it out tom.. What would be causing it to die?

No compression from the lack of a good head gasket. Thats my thought and experience with blown head gaskets.

I got some real bad smoke from the engine

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Could you be a bit more specific? From the tailpipe, or from the engine compartment?

Any funny noises? Will it keep running other than at an idle? Is there a oily film on the rear window? Check your coolant level. Is it clear or is it milky? Start it with the radiator cap off. Do you get a bunch of air coming out the filler neck?

What would be causing it to die?

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The coil/spark plugs are getting wet from the water leak.

Aight, I just went out to try some of the things you guys were talking about. I checked all my fluids, and they are all fine....I started it without the radiator cap on, and I did not get a bunch of air out of the filler cap. I started it up, and it sounded like it was running fine at idle. I was looking closer and saw that one of the coolant tubes was disconnected on the left side of the engine. It was disconnected right where there is a valve, that says "Prestone...Keep Tight." So I plugged those tubes back together, and after 10 minutes of getting the RPMs up, it was steaming, and it was really overheating. The coolant level was still the same, and I could not find any signs of coolant leaking or anything. It looked like it was steaming from where the exhaust manifold meets the engine. Any other thoughts you guys might have on why the coolant is not getting to the engine? Why I am overheating so bad?

Thank,
IAN

If you've had a substantial coolant leak you have to add more coolant at the radiator cap on the drivers side.
The plastic tank (passengers side) is a coolant recovery tank (often called a bottle) and really has very little to do with the actual level of coolant in the radiator and the rest of the system.
After normal driving, a little coolant pushes past the radiator cap into the coolant recovery tank, when you shut it down and it cools down, it will suck some of the coolant from the recovery bottle back into the radiator. If the system has a leak someplace in the system, the leak sucks air back into the system at the leak, during the cool down period and the coolant level in the recovery bottle, stays the same. Clear as mud? In other words if you have a leak, it will pump the coolant out and you have to add coolant at the radiator cap, the coolant recovery tank doesn't really work anymore.
Don't try opening the radiator cap on a hot motor and/or add coolant to a hot motor, unless it's running. Bad things happen.

Thank everyone for their help, my XJ is back in running order.

614XJ said:

Thank everyone for their help, my XJ is back in running order.

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Wait you can just say thanks. What was the problem? Other people would like to learn also.

And I hope you just did not put water in it, living in your area you need a 50/50 mix of prestone and DISTILLED water plus you have to burp the system to get out any trapped air.