My car is freaking driving me up the wall

[Thtwudbeme]

Drive it over 10 miles or so, and about one minute AFTER I park and cut it off, there is steam coming from the hood scoop.

It has NEVER overheated. All of the fluid levels are fine and dandy. It is not coming from the area where the AC drips water.

What the hell is it???

BTW--it's running great-

I am just ready to scream at it---it's scary looking.

[Texasgal]

1. Perhaps

"driving you up the wall" is what's doing it, keep all tires on the street and you'll have less problems, I suspect. :P

[Thtwudbeme]

2. funny....have you been talking to my husband??

;)

[Dora]

3. thermostat?

It's happened to me.

[Thtwudbeme]

4. Wouldn't a thermastat problem cause the car to overheat?

I don't know all that much about newish cars.

God, I wish I had a 65 Dodge Dart with a Slant 6.

[Cathyclysmic]

5. probably a slow leak in the coolant line

[miss_kitty]

6. Some fluid leaking on a hot surface?

Try looking under the hood while it's idling.

Got AC? Could be a condensation drip hitting a hot surface under the hood. The reason you may not see anything while the engine is running is that motion and the fan disperse the steam. It's probably steaming before you shut down-only a small amount.

Good luck!

[Thtwudbeme]

7. it seemed like it would have to be the AC condensation

because all the other fluids are completely fine...no leaks anywhere I can tell...all levels are just great.

It's just annoying as all get out...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. Check the clamps on all the hoses and if the hoses are old then change

them anyway. It's only 6 bucks to buy a new hose...you probably have a pinhole leak in one of them that evaporates shortly after cutting off the engine.

[Thtwudbeme]

9. I thought about that too...

No antifreeze smell. None.

Have you ever heard of such a thing in your life??? I am going to have the hoses changed anyway---

It's just wisps of steam...nothing that most people would even notice...

Weird, eh.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. And it might be condensation in the hood scoop from humidity and not

even be in the engine. The heat of the hood itself in the hot summer sun and condensation from humidity could just cause some evaporation. Your hood scoop doesn't open to the engine anyway, does it?

[Thtwudbeme]

15. No...but, I opened the hood (you know me) so I could stand there and

have that blank "what the hell" look....the steam (wisps) were from the rear of the engine at the bottom...not localized.

It always stops after about 45 seconds.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. Then that's your bottom hose or the heater hose

fix it

[NaturalHigh]

10. Thermostat is stuck.

Now, that was the optimistic (and most likely) guess. If it's not that, it's the water pump.

[Thtwudbeme]

11. But, why would you say that?

Wouldn't the car overheat, or have overflow from the coolant tank?

[NaturalHigh]

12. Well.....

Good question. Sorry, but I guess I didn't think through my first reply very well.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

14. Naah...if it were the thermostat the car would be overheating by now as

she said it happened more than once and if it were the water pump, she would have lost fluid.

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. Could be your heater core... Any fog on the windows? Puffs of smoke

from the vents? :shrug: