mrmister

I have 94 Lexus ES300 that has a burnt oil smell that comes through the air vent when the heater is on and you can smell it from the outside of the car when it is in idle. What is causing this and will these fumes kill me? Also, my car began to overheat today. I pulled over and checked the radiator fluid and it was black. Are these two problems related to each other? I want to keep this thing so what can I do to save it?

esucaris1

Your probably smelling old coolant... You should flush the system and check for leaks, a plugged radiator maybe a thermostat or waterpump... Oh yeah welcome to CL...

lexified14

your fumes could be from a power steering leak, leaking onto the manifold. This happened to me before. About the overheating check the system (rad, thermostat, water pump, bad hoses) good luck !

mrmister

hey thanks, didn't know that this place existed. and thanks for the suggestions... i'm hoping that my head gasket isn't blown or anything really expensive.

Poizun

you and me both about the head gaskets man, ima find out tomm what is going with mine which is overheating too.

mrmister

yeah that burnt oil smell has been there for a long time (like 3-4 years). the overheating started today... was your radiator fluid black too? and did you try flushing it out before bringing it to the mechanic?

lexified14

bet you its the power steering seriously. The hose is right above the rear manifold and these love to leak.

mrmister

-lexified

so are you saying there might be a leak in the power steering hose? did you have the same type of smell... burnt oil? is this easy to replace meaning, is it something that a novice could change? thanks for your help.

mrmister

oh yeah, i do have an oil leak too so i was thinking that this was causing the fumes.

pinoyboy

If you are burning anti-freeze on your exhaust, it would have almost of a sweet smell to it. If it is not a sweet smell, then most likely it is oil. I would check items such as your valve cover gaskets, distributor o-ring, cam shaft seals, etc. These items are located at the top of the engine. You should be able to look by the valve covers to see if is "wet". You can also monitor your oil level to see if it goes down.

If it is your head gaskets, you would overheat and should see oil mixed in with your anti-freeze.

I hope this helps.