What's wrong with my car?

Question

This morning I went to the store and on the way there I noticed the belt was squeaking a lot. When I got there and turned the car off I heard a loud hissing noise under the hood. While I was in the store it stopped so I drove it home. On the way home, it ran a little warmer than normal but not hot. When I parked it, it started to smoke a little and was making the hissing noise again. What could that be?

Answer 1

Wait Wait Wait.

Okay, hissing noise is probably not from the belt slipping and a little over heating is probably not from the pin-hole on a radiator.

Go on and off hissing noise is caused by a worn out bearing in a water-pump. You must replace the water-pump, if not, pretty soon the bearing jams up and knock the belt off.

A little smoke is because the belt is burning out. A bad bearing in water pump making a belt harder to turn a wheel on water-pump.

I do not suggest you driving this car unless you fix it on your drive-way, or few miles trip to the mechanic. Chainging a water pump won't cost you much. If you do it by yourself, you can get it for about $35-50

Overheating engine causes valves to warp, etc. And to fix warpped valves, oh... will costs you around $1200-1500. So, be careful.

Good Luck

Answer 2

When a belt on the engine squeeks it means the belt is stretched and loose. This can be solved by tightening the belt or replacing it.

A loose belt will also cause the cars engine to overheat due to the fact it is not turning the water pump and circulating the the water through the radiator.

Loss of circulation can be due to the water pump not being turned fast enough, a bad thermostat or a collapsed hose(top or bottom).

The cooling systems of cars and trucks work under pressure. You will notice that the radiator cap has a pressure rating listed on it. When the spring in the cap becomes weak it stops maintaing the proper pressure and this will cause circulation problems resulting in overheating.

Old hoses with cracks can cause pressure loss. This has the same effect as a bad radiator cap.

You should never drive a car once it starts overheating. This can cause many problems with other areas of the engine. The main problem caused by overheating the engine is the Head Gasket. Once the engine get too hot the gasket between the heads and the engine block become damaged and can cause fluid leaks, air leaks, compression leaks. This is a very expensive repair.

Although the cooling system is rather simple in what it does, it can now be rather frustrating to troubleshoot and repair. The computers on cars use reading from all areas of the engine to keep it running properly. The temperature of the cooling system is very important in the engine running correctly. The computer reads the temp. sensor and will adjust the fuel according to this reading. A cold engine gets more fuel until the engine and coolant warms. When warm the computer reduces the the fuel supply. If the sensor is bad and the computer reads the coolant as cold, you then use excessive fuel because it sees the engine as constantly cold. Constant warm readings will result in the engine not getting the proper amount of fuel at startup or idle resulting in stalling.

If you do not have the proper test equipement and knowledge of test procedures, then I recommend you get the vehicle to a trusted mechanic. This will not be cheap, but is cheaper than replacing parts until the problem is fixed.

Your cars computer might need to be reset after the repairs are completed. This procedure varies by vehicle maker and computer mfgr. The old procedure of disconnecting the battery terminal can destroy the computer on some vehicles requiring it to be replaced. This can and does get very expensive.

Answer 3

Well sounds like to me that your thermostat went out, but before you jump to that check and see if your radiator cap is on right or if the seal is broke that can cause the hissing sound but i believe that the thermostat is out and started a chain reaction in the engine. When you first heard that belt squeaking it was breaking loose due to the car not being able to tell the difference in engine temp, so when it does that the water pump heats up breaking the belt then causing the hissing sound the smoke came from driving it more that the car was over heating so now you might have to get the radiator hose, water pump, belt or chain, and the thermostat plus add antifreeze to the engine. Best bet is to take it to tow it to a local shop and tell this is what you thing the problems are so they wont cheat you out because they will if you seem not to know what the problem is. If are mechanically inclined it will cost you about 150 to fix but most shops charge 80$ per hour to fix cars i hope that helps you out good luck.

Answer 4

It sounds like a pinhole leak in a radiator hose. As you drive it may not spray much anti-freeze, but when you stop it sprays on a belt (most likely power steering). You get a squeal from the wet belt, the hissing (and puff of smoke) is the escaping hot anti-freeze, and this will cause your engine to run a little hot. Look around under the hood for some greenish crusty residue or a puddle of greenish liquid. This should indicate where the leak is coming from.

Answer 5

It sounds like you may have a belt slipping which would explain the noise. But the hissing noise would be my bigger concern as that might be a coolant leak which would also cause the belt to slip and the overheating condition.Bottom line is that you need to get it checked right away before you do damage to your vehicle. It may be as simple as a hose leaking or something more serious but get it checked out before it becomes really expensive.Good luck.

Answer 6

You could have two separate problems. One, a belt is about to go, so check out all the belts. Then, your radiator needs water. Wait until the engine is cool and fill it with a coolant, such as anti freeze. If you have an overflow, make sure that is up to the level mark it should be. That's all that's wrong with your car. Do not drive it without adding to the radiator.

Answer 7

Assuming both problems are related, the belt squweaks because the water pump is broken, and the hissing comes from overheating because the water pump is broken. Do not drive an overheating car for risk of irreversible damage to the motor.

Answer 8

you don't say what kind of car you have but i would say your water pump belt is the one making all the noise. the hissing is the radiator cap venting pressure from the cooling system( because it is over heating). so why is it over heating? maybe the waterpump belt is the problem or the tenstioner for the belt.
or maybe the water pump is.
i would take it to a qualified shop. if you don't know where to go. ask friends and family.

Answer 9

Like Mikey and frank f have suggested. You did not get the comprehensive tale. there is not any way the police or every person besides the undeniable fact that the owner of the vehicle is going to might want to pay for damages and prefer reported the following is why. If spikes are used on a motorcar, it replaced into maximum in all probability in a pursuit. this signifies that the motive force is breaking the regulation for no longer pulling over. (although if it replaced into the incorrect vehicle) At this aspect the motive force is going to be arrested and is committing a criminal offense. The police use spike strips to cease the motorcar, and motive force is arrested. Any harm to the motorcar it is brought about is the duty of the motive force or proprietor at this aspect.

Answer 10

Sounds like your radiator. when the car has cooled off, check the radiator to make sure it has water in it. Also, check the ground under the car to see if it looks like anything is leaking. If it continues, get to a mechanic fast. My radiator was leaking once, the plug fell out while I was driving down the freeway, all the water came out of the radiator, the car immediately overheated and that caused the engine block to crack. So, believe me, its worth taking it in to get checked out before something really serious happens to it.