I see and smell smoke when the car has been running for short periods
So I have had a 2008 Subaru outback for about a month. I started to notice this issue after driving up in the mountains, I had the car loaded with five people and a trunk full of camping gear so the car was struggling a bit up a hill, I went real slow and turned off the ac. when we got to the top there was a bit of smoke (or steam, not quite sure) coming from under the hood, popped the hood, and saw it was coming from the very front of the engine (i don’t know much about cars but fairly certain it was coming from the radiator). ok, fairs fair, I was pushing it pretty hard, it wasn’t registering to be hot on the dash though. I have been noticing this every time I drive though even short distances, just a tiny bit of steam (which I can only see if I open the hood right after turning the engine off), and that hot radiator smell occasionally comes through the vents when I turn the fan on. I toped off the coolant when I first got it and it’s still full. Is this an ‘i need to fix a leak’ issue or a ‘prepare to replace something major’ issue?
Is this a good question?
1 Comment
I was originally going to assume it's a head gasket issue but you mentioned the coolant was fine...
by amatsuda