Hello all!

I was just driving a few miles around town and noticed my temperature needle rising slowly/slightly while I was at a stop light and even noticed a faint waft of smoke coming out of the hood, driver's side. Once I started driving again the temperature gauge dropped to normal range, but occurred again a few miles down the road once I was idling again. 2005 Crossfire manual trans... Female here, not a mechanic... no warning lights illuminated... any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Where does the needle go when “normal” and how high does it go?

 

My gauge usually reads just below the midpoint mark, when it started rising it made it just over the midpoint, a very incremental change, but obviously the smoke was alarming.

 

That is exactly where mine runs but I live where it’s hot. I don’t think there would be any steam unless there is a coolant leak somewhere. Keep an eye on the coolant level just in case.

 

The temp gauge will slightly rise above the halfway point at times
This is normal on most of our Crossfires
When mine rises above the middle line on the gauge my coolant temperature is at about 210 degrees which is displayed on my Ultragauge
It is a handy aftermarket device I have plugged in to my OBD port to monitor several things


https://ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/u...SABEgIeo_D_BwE

 

The smoke is probably oil leaking out of a valve cover. Do a search on this site.

 

YOur temperature readings are normal, altho my car stays below the halfway mark as I' had the "-18F mod" done last year.

If your breathers are leaking oil so much that it smokes, I'd have that fixed right away - any dealer can do it for around $400. In six months, they will leak again, but it's only $400 per visit.

You could get any shadetree mechanic to fix it using the tutorial on this forum, supplies will cost around $65 and if the guy takes his time, the fix will last as long as you own the car.

 

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Temp gauge seems to be working nominally. The 'steam' could be oil on the valve cover(s) seeping down to the hot manifold, a slight coolant leak in a very hot area, or trapped water from rain/puddles that made it to hot places like exhaust manifolds or exhaust pipes. Does that 'steam' smell like burning oil, antifreeze, or something like boiling dirty water? Keep us posted?

BTW, Chrysler replaced the caulking on both top mini valve cover on the 5 year LPT warranty inspection, it is again weeping on the DS but doesn't hit the exhaust manifold. No smell, only a very slight discoloration by the time it makes it to the bottom of the valve cover. Going to leave that well enough alone (if it aint broke, don't fix it).


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