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Expert: Todd Puccio - 11/4/2009


Question
I have a 1999 Grand AM V6 3400. I have white steam like smoke coming from the tail pipe that smell like burnt antifreeze, The collant light is on and off all the time, there is like a yellow grease lke water and oil mix on the oil cap and the pcv valve..the heat won't work most of the time it will heat up to about 230 then when it goes down to 205 the heat works for a min. then stops..it has a miss in it..we have changed the pcv and the eng.tempture sensor

Answer
Hi MAtt:

Well you have 1 of 2 things going on here. either a lowerinatke manifold hasket went bad and the coolant is leaking into the crank case and then the pcv valve is sucking the mixture in or you have a blown head gasket. More likely a head gasket due to the fact that it has an engine misfire. either way it's going to have to come aprat to see what the issue is. It may have had a intake leaking for a while and it ran low on coolant and overheated and took out a head gasket due to the over heating... what ever it may be do not drive the car because the coolant inot the oil will damage the engine bearings. get it fixed and have the engine oil chnaged a few tikmes to get the intermixed oil/coolant out. good luck :0

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Todd Puccio

Expertise

General auto repair,electrical issues,driveability issues,anti-lock brakes,SIR systems,HVAC,engine performance,Gm specific. I have worked at my current dealership since the 1990 model year anything much older than that I have limited exposure to. I do not have very much transmission experience so those question you may want to ask of another expert. When you send me a question let me know the exact make/model/engine and year for the car or suv you have it makes it easier to answer the questions that way. If your happy with the answer I gave you please feel free to Donate. This is a free service to you and I am not compensated at all by this web site. I have 22 years of experience to share with you and my knowledge wasn't free to me. I had to pay for my education.

Experience

Experience in the area:I have been employed by the same Gm dealer for 18 years and and a ASE master technician. I work at a Pontiac and GMC truck store. Served a a lead technician when dealership was on a team system. I just recently moved to a Buick,Hummer,Saab Store when my franchise was purchased by this dealership. Organizations: ASE master technician

Education/Credentials
Education/Credentials:High school diploma,2 year vocational school degree 2 year college degree. Associates degree in applied sciences (auto technology)Awards and Honors: GMC master technician

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