Hey guy's,

This is more of a request than a problem but let me explain what I got.

As some of you know I worked for a dealer for quite a few years and not saying I know it all but I know a great deal about theses cars and being a proud owner of one also helps.

So here is what is going on. Since my SS/TC was new with 63mi on it. The temp would always fluctuate from 189F to 207F on rare occasions it might have gotten to 210F pretty normal I would say. Temp stays around 190 or so cruising but increases when sitting still and stop and go traffic but does not exceed the temps mentioned above. Also when it was new during cold starts I get white smoke from the exhaust. It does not last long and it goes away after the car warms up. So I assumed this is a characteristic of the car with a turbo and moisture in the exhaust that settled in after sitting for 8 to 12 hours or so. I have seen many cars do this as well and I think it may also have something to do with the cat warm-up. Its usually worse in cooler weather than hotter too which is why I am led to think it may have moisture in the exhaust due to the morning dew. Are you still with me?

So at ~30k only a couple times on first morning start up I heard a gurgle sound in the dash (coolant rushing into the heater core) rev the car a few times you hear it for a few seconds and it stops might drive out of the drive way and hear it but after that it wouldn't do it anymore until the car sat. I ended up putting a coolant vacuum evacuator/filler on to try to pull out any air in the system, also at the same time I lifted the left side of the car with the reservoir on it. Issue went away and now again at 62k its doing it again. I have had not leaks, never had to add coolant except when it was new Just to get the level to the fill line. Not much was added. So at this point I am baffled as to why am I getting air in the system if there are no leaks, and to my knowledge nothing burning since I don't have to add any coolant.

I spoke with my buddy that I trust (because he has had 20+ years in the auto industry.) at the dealer and he thinks maybe head gasket because of the smoke but I have a hard time believing that. I have an appt. in Sept. so he and I will run some check on it. between now and then I plan to do some of my own checks. I am very particular about this car and really don't want to disassemble the engine or put a new one in mostly because of the rarity of the car and that will change the value. So I got some diagnostics to do. the car is still under warranty which is the only reason its going to the dealer.

With all that said (Now that you all are falling asleep from me boring you to death), I was hoping maybe some of you guys and give me your opinions and possible post up videos of cold first morning start up of SS/TC with stock exhaust. I want to do a comparison. I really should have been an engineer because I like to analyze everything and understand the unknowns. never wanted or could afford the schooling though. Thanks guys and sorry for this being so long.

 

The way it gurgals is very similar to my nissan 1.8. Which was infact the headgasket. Took it to a shop, and he dropped a special dye in the rad. It went blue = headgasket gone, and basically getting exhaust into the cooling system. Watched him to it in under a minute.

thats just my experience with headgaskets :P

 

Yeah, I cannot disagree. I still have yet to use tester on it to check for combustion in the coolant. The one I have used was a blue dye in this turkey baster looking thing that sniffs the cooling system when it turns yellow it indicates the gasket is bad.

Unfortunately I really don't want this engine apart. I am hoping this ends up just being a stubborn air pocket that has been floating around. I have not lost any coolant or had to add any so unless its a mysterious gasket leak that only lets gas into the system and not coolant into the engine that would be a new one for me. Can it happen I am sure, but it has to be pretty rare. The gurgle has not been there the last 2 days go figure and I checked the smoke. It does not smoke until after the car has ran and started heating up and appeared to be normal moisture cool weather related. I might have time to play with some things this weekend maybe and see what I can find. Will check the plugs and run a compression test and see if anything out of the ordinary shows up.

 

I thought about this a little last night.

The white smoke, with how little you get / only on cold starts, cold days especially doesnt seem too crazy. I think you nailed that with the cat warm up / moisture.

And I think the thermostat is the next place to look. Could be faulty / sticking, etc. not working how it should, hot coolant rushing to the heater coil making noise.
that or a plugged heater coil, gummed up and holding coolant till it gets hot enough to thin what ever out enough for coolant to pass, giving that gurgling effect