Smoking Vents and Studdering

[PowderHoundCD]

95 Galant ES

Problem 1:
So about a week ago I noticed some white-ish smoke coming out of my vents. It has no smell and is the same temperature as the air coming out.

The amount of smoke doesn't seem to be tied to rpms, but instead to speed. The faster I go, the more smoke comes out (this is just from what I've payed attention to, I'm not certain).

Now, it only happens after the car is completely warmed up and usually only after I have turned the AC on. If I try turning the AC back off, the smoke keeps on coming. Also, once the car is turned off, the smoke keeps coming for several minutes.

The AC no longer works on my car, although the heater does.

My guess is that the smoke is the refrigerant(Freon, or whatever is used in this car) leaking into the air system.

How would I go about checking this stuff out? I have absolutely no clue when it comes to AC systems, although the heater part of the air system I understand fairly well.

Problem 2:
When I first got the car, it developed a studdering problem that was fixed with a replacement rotor and distributor cap. The studder came back about a month ago, and recently it has turned into complete power loss in the 1700 to 2200rpm power band.

I can give the car gas from idle, and it will accelerate up to about 1700rpms, then it feels like I loose all power (the rpms actually drop). The rpms bounce off around 2200, then suddenly shoot up to where they should be.

If I floor the car from idle, the problem doesn't show up, but if I do anything less than full throttle, there it is. It happens in all gears.

I'm thinking that my distributor rotor and cap need to be replaced again (I read somewhere on here that they can go bad very easily). Is there any way that I can test the cap and rotor? Would there be anything else that could cause this?

Thanks for the help everyone!
Carson

[98ACR]

As for the "smoke" from the vents, it's steam...the Galant' A/C is crazy powerful....mine used to do the same thing before my compressor exploded.

Your other problem sounds like it's trans related.

[PowderHoundCD]

So, if there is steam coming out of the AC, then what can I do about it? Do I need a new compressor? New seals?

Also, I would have thought that the studdering was tranny related too, except that the engine hesitates even in neutral and park. It seems like that would exclude a tranny problem, but I could be wrong.

[SuperGALANT]

i dont believe he means steam.. steam is water evaporating under heat or pressure.. its a fog that hes talkin about.. is the smoke cold? is just frost .. my gf 87 supra does same thing.. which means there is no problems..

my car smoked one time when i turned off the recirc control.. so i just leave it on.. im not to worried about it.. it doesnt seem to bother anything

[PowderHoundCD]

The "fog" that I'm seeing is the same temperature as the rest of the air coming out of the vents. It is happening all the time, air on or off, recirc on or off, A/C on or off. This one is definitely not right. Its not just frost or condensation either, its been in the 80's here consistently.

Also, when I put my hand into the "fog," it doesn't dew onto my hand like water would. That would make me believe that it is smoke, but since there is no smell of anything burning (no exhaust smell, no burnt smell, nothing), then the only other thing that I think it could be would be the refrigerant from the AC system.

As for the studdering, do the cap and rotor just unbolt and bolt back on (I'm replacing these this weekend hopefully and haven't had time to check under the hood for anything)? Are there any special considerations that I need to account for?

Thank you once again for the help! This is definitely my problem car.

Carson

P.S. On a side note, does anyone know where I can get oil for an air filter (do I just use normal 10W-40?) and a cap for the windshield washer fluid?

[SuperGALANT]

cap has either 2 or 3 little screws and the rotor just pops off.. make sure the new rotor goes on in same direction but i think a galant rotor will only go on one way.. just watch out for that.. make sure u get ur wires in the same order too..

um if it was ac refridgerent.. it could blind you and it wouldnt smell to good either..(stink) plus it can give frostbite if ur not carefull so it would feel cold.. so its not refridgerent..
idk u got me on that smoke.. id have to see it in person to help ya..
plus it has no smell.. idk..

[PowderHoundCD]

Haha sounds interesting. I'll take a video this weekend and see if that can shed any light on the situation.

I've noticed that the smoke is making the windsheild fog up really badly, and leaves a smear when wiped off that lasts a couple of hours (I'm not sure if this is normal when you wipe down your windshield). The smoke wouldn't bother me except that I have no AC (its HOT for here), and the windows are continuously fogged up, making it really hard to drive at all.

I'll try to get that video up by tomorrow night. Thanks for the help so far! Any insights are appreciated.

Carson

[98ACR]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PowderHoundCD)</div><div class='quotemain'>Haha sounds interesting. I'll take a video this weekend and see if that can shed any light on the situation.

I've noticed that the smoke is making the windsheild fog up really badly, and leaves a smear when wiped off that lasts a couple of hours (I'm not sure if this is normal when you wipe down your windshield). The smoke wouldn't bother me except that I have no AC (its HOT for here), and the windows are continuously fogged up, making it really hard to drive at all.

I'll try to get that video up by tomorrow night. Thanks for the help so far! Any insights are appreciated.

Carson</div>

Heater core...

[PowderHoundCD]

Okay, well I looked closer at the fog problem, and it is tied to the AC. When I turn the AC on, about 10-15 seconds later the fog comes out, and when I turn the AC off, it takes at least 30 seconds for the fog to go away.

How would I go about checking the heater core? Is it buried in the dash? Also, would the heater core be tied to my AC?

On the other hand, the studdering problem is getting much worse. Now, when I accelerate from a stop, about 75% of the time it has a bad misfire and takes forever to get going. At about 2500rpms, the studdering will stop and the car will drive like normal.

Then, when I'm driving around, and go to accelerate, it jumps between 1700 and 2300rpms just like a surging idle. I've checked the spark plugs and the cap and rotor, and they all seem to be okay. My friend was thiking that it could be the O2 sensor, because the problem seems to be controlled by the ECU. Any input?

Carson

Carson

[XStealth6]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PowderHoundCD)</div><div class='quotemain'>Okay, well I looked closer at the fog problem, and it is tied to the AC. When I turn the AC on, about 10-15 seconds later the fog comes out, and when I turn the AC off, it takes at least 30 seconds for the fog to go away.

How would I go about checking the heater core? Is it buried in the dash? Also, would the heater core be tied to my AC?

On the other hand, the studdering problem is getting much worse. Now, when I accelerate from a stop, about 75% of the time it has a bad misfire and takes forever to get going. At about 2500rpms, the studdering will stop and the car will drive like normal.

Then, when I'm driving around, and go to accelerate, it jumps between 1700 and 2300rpms just like a surging idle. I've checked the spark plugs and the cap and rotor, and they all seem to be okay. My friend was thiking that it could be the O2 sensor, because the problem seems to be controlled by the ECU. Any input?

Carson

Carson</div>



I've had a similar problems such as yours.. except my problem was my breaks were locking. I've had that problem on my 98g.. my right side would do that, stutter , rpms would go crazy at times.. changed that entire right side.. calipers/rotor/lines etc .... month or 2 later same thing started happening with my left side.. did the same thing.. replaced everything on that side aswell.. usually if u change something like that you have to change both sides at the sametime... unfortunately i couldn't do that because lack of $$ at the time... but that seemed to do the trick when i changed it.. everything seemed to be ok afterwards

have you checked your breaks?

and i find this post funny because my 98g also does that mist/smoke/smog you speak of.. i usually noticed it during colder temperature... and doesn't have odor.. weird but i haven't had it happen to me in a few months.. so i'm guessing its weather related..










edit: i just read over your studdering problem again.. (u can ignore my break post, if it doesnt relate)


i also had something like what your're experiencing.. have you changed the tranny fluid?

[Shadow19]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PowderHoundCD)</div><div class='quotemain'>Okay, well I looked closer at the fog problem, and it is tied to the AC. When I turn the AC on, about 10-15 seconds later the fog comes out, and when I turn the AC off, it takes at least 30 seconds for the fog to go away.

How would I go about checking the heater core? Is it buried in the dash? Also, would the heater core be tied to my AC?

On the other hand, the studdering problem is getting much worse. Now, when I accelerate from a stop, about 75% of the time it has a bad misfire and takes forever to get going. At about 2500rpms, the studdering will stop and the car will drive like normal.

Then, when I'm driving around, and go to accelerate, it jumps between 1700 and 2300rpms just like a surging idle. I've checked the spark plugs and the cap and rotor, and they all seem to be okay. My friend was thiking that it could be the O2 sensor, because the problem seems to be controlled by the ECU. Any input?

Carson

Carson</div>

I had a similar problem with my g skipping... it turned out to be my distributor.. Maybe you should check into that.