Odd thing with my vehicle...

[iDrink]

I have a 1991 Lincoln Town car, V8 overhead cam, 4.6 litre.

Recently, I was leaving my workplace, and bottomed out because of road construction. It happened to rip my exhaust off, naturally causing it to be extremely loud. I've yet to receive my new exhaust, which I ordered last week. Anyway, that's besides the point.

Right before that happened, my car started leaking smoke (smelling like antifreeze) through my defrost vents in the front window. It fogs up the whole window, and absolutely pours smoke if I turn on any of the fans for the A/C. Does anyone happen to know what might be causing this?

-Also, theres a crack in the radiator, which will be fixed soon also. Just a side note.

[B@nNeD]

Hi dude, Now smoke/steam comming through your vents isn't good. If you have a crack in your radiator the build-up of steam/vapour in your engine bay may be getting sucked up by your ventilation fans and this is why it ends up inside your vehicle cabin. Also the heater in most vehicles is run via the cooling system and uses the engine heat to heat up the air that is fanned into your cabin, it uses like a small radiator that is mounted inside the dashboard then fans your air through it to heat it up. If this small radiator has a leak it can also cause this problem too. But on a serious note if you think that it smells like antifreeze this can be very dangerous to your health, antifreeze (glycol) is a carcinogenic (cancer causing agent) so breathing this crap in is not good at all ok so please get this problem fixed for your own sake.

Here's a little trivia glycol is a very sweet substance & was commonly used in france to sweeten champagne in the early 1900's. But now that the authorities are aware of it's dangers this has been stopped. & all glycol now must have a bittering agent put in it to prevent children from accidentally ingesting that crap thinking that because it tastes sweet they can drink it, Hope I've helped

B@nNeD

[ktmrider530]

Jey man, before doing anything expensive, i would just check out your thermostat, If it sticks closed it may cause those things to happen.

[B@nNeD]

Yep I agree with ktmrider530 a faulty thermostat can cause these problems too if it is shut/blocked this can lead to over-heating & a buildup of pressure in your cooling system this pressure must escape somewhere it will generally find the weakest spot like eg: hoses,gasgets,old radiator seals etc..... But in most cases it will vent via the radiator overflow hose if installed. To see if your thermostat is working correctly just take it out & look on it's skirt/plate there should be a number on it this represents it's opening tempurature just put it in a pot of water on a stovetop & use a thermometer to measure your temp increments & look at what temp it opens at if it opens at a temp higher than is marked on thermostat then it needs to be replaced.

B@nNeD

[ktmrider530]

Yep I agree with ktmrider530 a faulty thermostat can cause these problems too if it is shut/blocked this can lead to over-heating & a buildup of pressure in your cooling system this pressure must escape somewhere it will generally find the weakest spot like eg: hoses,gasgets,old radiator seals etc..... But in most cases it will vent via the radiator overflow hose if installed. To see if your thermostat is working correctly just take it out & look on it's skirt/plate there should be a number on it this represents it's opening tempurature just put it in a pot of water on a stovetop & use a thermometer to measure your temp increments & look at what temp it opens at if it opens at a temp higher than is marked on thermostat then it needs to be replaced.

B@nNeD

Thanks for adding to it B@nNeD, i post allot rom my blackberry and sometimes, i forget to explain things properly, or even make things make sense lol. But thank you.
@OP, if you don't ever use your heater, you can just leave your thermostat off, it should eliminate and overheating problems.

---

Actually, i may be wrong about the thermostat. If it is sticking closed wouldn't all the antifreeze remain in the overflow or radiator? So, i think your thermostat is working properly, but i would check it just to be safe. Don't put it in boiling water, depending on your altitude that is usually higher than the opening point. Start out at about 100 Degrees F, and go up. But, if it is coming through your vents that tells me it's opened because it's flowing through your jackets. Does your A/C work properly?
Again, don't take my word on any of this, i'm not rreally that great with this sort of thing.

[caspur]

More than likely it's your heatercore or antifreeze leaking and burning up on your engine somewhere but, it could also be your headgasket so make sure you check all around your heads and see if your leaking anything

[ktmrider530]

More than likely it's your heatercore or antifreeze leaking and burning up on your engine somewhere but, it could also be your headgasket so make sure you check all around your heads and see if your leaking anything

That makes sense. Check the cap for your burp tank. And follow the lines for leaks.

[Uchiha Scottyy.Fx™]

More than likely it's your heatercore or antifreeze leaking and burning up on your engine somewhere but, it could also be your headgasket so make sure you check all around your heads and see if your leaking anything

It's this most likely.