Before I put my car away for the winter, I noticed a little bit of white smoke at WOT once and awhile. Well, it has been sitting for a week and I went to start it to move it. Well, it started kind of rough and seem to have a small miss. It then cleared right out. I then noticed my low coolant light was on.. Uh oh.. What do you guys think? No puddles of coolant on the ground..

Rob

 

Check the oil for coolant and visa versa. Also, a compression/leakdown test wouldn't hurt.

 

When my head gasket blew on my Z it would barely run and smoked like crazy.

You could have a small head gasket leak (my coolant port was totally blown out)

First check as mentioned above the color of the oil on the dip stick, water and oil make it look like chocolate milk on the stick.

A compression check as mentioned above will also help to determine the problem.

Lastly you can pull the spark plugs, if one looks like it is brand new (steam cleaned by the coolant) you have a problem.

Guess this would be the time to repair it if the car is just going to be stored for the winter, have the heads reworked at this time. Its not too bad of a job, just takes a lot of time.

 

Best way to diagnose in my opinion is a cooling system pressure test

Even a very minor leak (pin hole) somewhere in the cooling system should be uncovered.

When mine did blow I had no smoke, car ran perfect and only clue was coolant would drop down over a day or two, cooling system pressure test immedietely identified a leak.

 

I borrowed one of my buddies tester kits that uses a dye. It is a sniffer test. The fluid in this sniffer vile was suppose to change colors if I had carbon monoxide (exhaust) in my coolant. It tested out normal. Is that a very accurate test?

Rob

I have no oil in my coolant, or coolant in my oil.

Rob

 

If the oil and the coolant aren't mixing anywhere then you're probably just suffering from a bad low coolant sensor. The hard start and puff of white were probably just from the car sitting for a while.

 

Now that I think about it, the low coolant light was off last week and it came back on once again this week. I never added any coolant. The sensor must be crap..

Rob