Help with a 04 Sebring under the hood

**kool-aide** · 10-19-2008, 05:21 AM

I didn't know where to post this since it is a Mopar, ok not really, lol...

My wife drives a 04 Sebring Coupe 3.0L V6. She was complaining about her car not starting right up. I thought let's try SeaFoam and see if anything is clogged. Ok, don't ask why I went the Seafoam route, but i did. And before any one gets crazy, yes, I just read Sarge's post on 2 cycle marine oil.

Ok, so the problem with the car turned out to be a battery going to the grave. But, the SeaFoam may have pointed to a silent problem. Her car has always been extremely hot under the hood, hotter than i would expect. When I SeaFoamed the car I notice white smoke coming from the front exhaust manifold area. There are heat shields every where so I couldn't pin point it, way to hot to be crawling around on the ground touching things.

So I was hoping some one might have Sebring exp. The car doesn't make any noises that alarm me, seems to run normal. No popping or ticking like a leak at the gasket. Since there is so many heat shields I can't see if there is a hole any where, without removing a bunch of stuff.

What kind of things or noises could I look for to get a better idea? We have a Car Max extended warranty, and I'm trying to get a better idea of why this happened and how to describe it to a mechanic. Is there a sniffer to check for exhaust leaks? I know there is for Freon.

If this is posted in the wrong place, please feel free to relocate me, thanks.

thanks

kool-aide

**dpinson** · 10-19-2008, 05:26 AM

2 ideas her either you spilled some sea foam or oil and it is burning off or you have an exhaust leak

**kool-aide** · 10-19-2008, 05:36 AM

yeah, figure exhaust leak. I was using the brake vacuum which is way at the back of the engine bay. This was coming from right up front. It almost seemed to be a leak somewhere around the CAT. There is a CAT right up front which is flange bolted top and bottom, not welded.

I'm hoping to see if I can get a couple of ideas of where (or how) to focus. I haven't contacted the warranty company, so I don't know if it is covered. But I can't walk in and say I have an exhaust leak. You can't hear anything odd, or see anything. So I was wondering how does a mechanic verify an exhaust leak?

It is a 50 dollar deductible, and by the time i get done tearing things apart and replacing gaskets, I will be in the 30-40 dollar range.

thanks

**dpinson** · 10-19-2008, 06:21 AM

most places around here will just listen for the leak i am sure there is some sort of diagnostic for this also but this is west texas and most are still old school

is it still smoking or was it just temporary?and you cant hear anything?

if it isnt smoking or making noise i would chalk it up to spilled oil that was burning off

i know not everyone knows what to listen for but a exhaust leak is usually pretty easy to diagnose

**dpinson** · 10-19-2008, 06:24 AM

those damn donut gaskets or whatever kind of exhaust gasket it is usually suck ass,between me and my buddies one of us forever has an exhaust leak
due to cutouts or headers

**kool-aide** · 10-19-2008, 10:11 AM

only smoked during the seafoam

once it cleared out of the banks it stopped smoking.

well i guess i will call them on Monday on see what kind of story they give me.

the main reason i want to have it fixed is to see if it doesn't lower the under hood temp. other than that i couldn't say one way or the other that the car runs fine.

i just hate to sit there with seafoam all day blowing white smoke, lol...

**kool-aide** · 10-28-2008, 02:18 PM

well since I don't hear any classic exhaust noises and it is not covered under warranty

I am will to chalk it up to possible a little junk getting past the gaskets or something

right now i don't think it is worth my time to tear apart half the front of my wife's car for something i can't identify without tearing it apart.

I'll chalk the high temps up to a V6 that just runs hot and hard

thanks every one for the help....

**kool-aide** · 10-28-2008, 02:19 PM

I probably should stop by the neighbor's house and ask him about his 04 Sebring. I know the two cars have the same crappy dash board problem, lol...

**irbaboon** · 10-28-2008, 02:40 PM

i wouldnt worry about it, if it only happened when you did the seafoam then why stress over it

**kool-aide** · 10-28-2008, 02:54 PM

yeah, it just seems unusual. even though i have plenty of bad things to say about the old Daimler Chryslers, it is still unusual.

maybe one day when I'm bored i will sea foam it again this time with a video camera ready, lol...

that thing poured smoke like no tomorrow and only has 26k miles on it, 18k of which came from the last two years only.

**dpinson** · 10-28-2008, 03:07 PM

that is perfectly normal it smokes after because you are burning up all the shit you have cleaned out

i watched a shop do an old truck one time and it smoked like crazy for about thirty minutes and then went clear