Engine overheats and smoking?

replace the thermostat, thats the first thing I would do

is the thermostat expensive to get replaced???
also the engine oil looks very dark...could that be the reason??

shouldnt cost much, if you do it yourself it should be around $15 for thermostat and gasket, if the oil is that dirty change it and the filter.

thanks for the information...i will get it checked and get it changed...

Car runs well with good mileage. Fuel pressure regulator is OK. No check engine lights. When idling for greater than 5 minutes, catalytic converters over heat glowing bright red hot, engine stalls. After 30 minute cool down time, engine starts and runs well till next episode. Can occur at long duration stop lights or when in traffic jambs. You can smell excess gasoline when converters are hot. Any other time engine runs well. Vary intermenent and aggravating problem.

This one could be tricky to solve.....
First, a bit of deductive reasoning........
In order to overheat the catalyst to that extent, an excess of fuel must be entering the catalytic converter. Since there is no other path to the catalyst than through the engine, the excess fuel must be coming through the engine.
Since a mixture that is sufficiently rich as to overheat the catalyst must exist, it would follow that the O2 sensor should see this and cause a trouble code to be set in the computer. This in turn would light the check engine light.

Now to the diagnostics....

First verify that the check engine light is functioning correctly. It should ligjht up when you turn on the ignition, and stay lit until after the engine starts.

Second, check for trouble codes. It is possible for codes to exist without lighting the check engine light. It would be an unusual condition, but this is an unusual problem.

Some possible causes of an excessively rich mixture would be:
Mass air flow sensor.
Air leaks in the intake path.
Bad O2 sensor or sensors.
Charcoal cannister overfull.
Fuel tank vent restricted causing excess fuel into the engine.

Also, there is a possibility that your catalytic converter is internally restricted.

These are a few ideas that come to mind, and should help you with a starting point to figure out this problem and work towards solving it.

Good luck!

Temp indicator climbs all way to hot, then falls, then climbs again, i pull over and pop hood and see that the radiator has backed up into the coolant tank and spilled over, while letting her cool the water coolant mixture slowly is sucked back into radiato rbut due to some loss it is necessary to add water or coolant to fill line in radiator.Sometimes this will get me home but last time it happened I had to pull over and do same thing again! Car does not overheat while at idle.
We changed water pump, also flushed radiator, this wqorked for a couple of weeks. what sould cause this constant back up and tonite there is about a 10 inch puddle under rge rear portion of the engine!

Thanks Renee

Hi there,

If you just back flushed the radiator with a domestic hose, that will not do very much. You will have to have the radiator cleaned with the tank off. Do this if you have not already, replace thermostat as well also check the operation of the cooling fan.

Mark (mhpautos)

My vehicle�s coolant circulation system doesn�t cycle all of the coolant, soon leaving me with little coolant, and on hot days, the engine overheats and shuts off. I have attempted several times to find an external leak however I can say with a fair amount of certainty there is no external leak because there is never a puddle underneath the car. So my question is where is the lost coolant going, and how can I fix this issue?

If coolant pressure test does not reveal any obvious leaks
and you have continually adding coolant to the system
I would suspect a headgasket failure and should check for that

124-TP circuit output higher than expected

212-IDM circuit failure / SPOUT circuit grounded.

214-CID circuit failure.

Pulled these obd 1 codes. Having problems starting car while engine is hot. When cold it starts right up. Vehicle is taurus SHO 3.2L DOHC. Any advice would be great, thank you.

Cliff

I go with the ignition module, it's common and will eventually fail even cold. Remove it, take it to Autozone, they can test it before you buy the new one...Dont forget the thin coat of die electric grease on the back, it helps dissapate the heat!

1995 Ford Taurus GL wagon 159000 miles w/ 3.8. I have changed the stat and water pump getting a good flow. But it overheats. No heat from the heater with hoses to heater core warm but not hot. I cannot find blockage. Needing help bad! :cry:

Try bleeding the cooling system see below

BLEEDING COOLING SYSTEM

Always bleed air from cooling system after replacing coolant. Set heater for maximum heat. Remove radiator cap. Loosen drain plug and remove drain bolt (if equipped) from engine block. Drain coolant reservoir. Fill coolant reservoir to MAX mark with 50/50 water-coolant mixture. Loosen bleed bolt and fill radiator up to base of filler neck. Close bleed bolt when coolant flows out without bubbles. Tighten bleed bolt. With radiator cap removed, start and operate engine to normal operating temperature. Add coolant if necessary and check for leaks.