Sweet smelling exhaust and bad gas mileage

#1

Hey everyone,

I'm curious, I've been noticing that when I start my truck the exhaust
smells really sweet.. I've always wonderd why I never seem to get very good
gas mileage (11.5 average half in town half highway). I've already had to
replace the cats once and don't need to do it again.. what could be causing
this?

Also sometimes on start it turns over and acts like it fires but isn't
enough to start the engine and it kinda sputters and dies.. and you have to
do it again.

I've always thought I need to replace the ignition coil and ICM but have
never done it.. always thought that that may be the problem.. but now I'm
even more worried it's a the fuel pump, regulator or injectors..
I have not pulled any plugs to see if they are nasty..
but plugs, wires, cap, rotor are all less then a year old..

I'm using the Champion (i think?) platitium plugs and I had a friend of mine
told me he couldn't use them in his motor for some reason, it just ran like
crap and he got bad mileage.. Am I maybe not running a hot enough spark to
burn all the fuel??
I've put a new wix fuel filter on recently (last 6mons) so that should be
good..

I'd like to know what I should start looking at..

Adair

#2

You are burning coolant either because of a bad head gasket or a crack
in the block somewhere

On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 04:50:23 GMT, "Adair Winter"
<adair (AT) revivedrecords (DOT) com> wrote:

Quote:

Hey everyone,

I'm curious, I've been noticing that when I start my truck the exhaust
smells really sweet.. I've always wonderd why I never seem to get very good
gas mileage (11.5 average half in town half highway). I've already had to
replace the cats once and don't need to do it again.. what could be causing
this?

Also sometimes on start it turns over and acts like it fires but isn't
enough to start the engine and it kinda sputters and dies.. and you have to
do it again.

I've always thought I need to replace the ignition coil and ICM but have
never done it.. always thought that that may be the problem.. but now I'm
even more worried it's a the fuel pump, regulator or injectors..
I have not pulled any plugs to see if they are nasty..
but plugs, wires, cap, rotor are all less then a year old..

I'm using the Champion (i think?) platitium plugs and I had a friend of mine
told me he couldn't use them in his motor for some reason, it just ran like
crap and he got bad mileage.. Am I maybe not running a hot enough spark to
burn all the fuel??
I've put a new wix fuel filter on recently (last 6mons) so that should be
good..

I'd like to know what I should start looking at..

Adair

#3

Yes, you're burning coolant from somewhere.

"Adair Winter" <adair (AT) revivedrecords (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

"RS" <dfghfhhh (AT) yhyhyh (DOT) net> wrote in message
You are burning coolant either because of a bad head gasket or a crack
in the block somewhere

SHHH! don't say that! grr.. ok

Well I haven't noticed the coolent level drop and i haven't touched it for
like almost a year..
wait i take that back, will water and coolent evaperate from the overflow
resivore?
Otherwise I pulled the cap the other day and coolent level was fine, and
the
resivore has been empty for months..

Adair

#4

"Luke" <Luke76 (AT) shaw (DOT) ca> wrote in message

Quote:

Yes, you're burning coolant from somewhere.

Ok, Is there a way to find out for sure?

Adair

#5

"Adair Winter" <adair (AT) revivedrecords (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

"vlj" <v@l.j> wrote in message
You DON'T want to have air in your cooling system if you're running
Dexcool
in it ... when it is exposed to air, it'll sludge up and kill your
engine
by
plugging the cooling passages. *Always* keep your expansion tank full
and
its recommended that you fill it to the "hot" level when cold.

GM engines are pretty notorious for intake manifold leaks and this could
be
the cause of cylinder coolant ingestion. That's the cheap fix. If
you've
cracked a head, that's the spendy fix. If your coolant leak is
substantial
enough to contaminate the crankcase, it'll lead to nasty bottom end
bearing
failure or other catastrophic problems. Have you ever seen any "milky"
deposits on the dipstick or on the oil filler neck cap?

VLJ

I am running dexcool, I don't think I have any problems with air in the
system.. I'm gonna top the coolent off today and see if it gets low
again..
if it's using coolent it's very little, it's prolly been 6-9mons since
i've
last put anything in it.

I have not noticed any milky looking oil.. I'm gonna check the oil cap for
condensation and am going to pull all the plugs and look them over.. do a
compression test and put new plugs in..

Adair

Adair,

If yer' resevior is empty (had been empty for MONTHS? What the hell were
you thinking?), you have air in the system. ALWAYS keep the resevior filled
to the cold line when cold. I hate to break it to you, but you killed your
truck. You ran it low on coolant for too long (resevoir EMPTY) and this
neglect caused some failure.

DO NOT DRIVE IT. If yer' burning coolant (which you ARE, coolant doesn't
evaporate) and it's a head gasket, it's just a matter of time till she blows
all the way and then it's bye-bye bottom end as well. Get it fixed ASAP.
Cylinder leakdown test will identify the problem cylinder (s).

Doc

Quote:

#6

""Doc"" <ask.me (AT) no (DOT) spam> wrote in message

Quote:

Adair,

If yer' resevior is empty (had been empty for MONTHS? What the hell were
you thinking?), you have air in the system. ALWAYS keep the resevior
filled
to the cold line when cold. I hate to break it to you, but you killed
your
truck. You ran it low on coolant for too long (resevoir EMPTY) and this
neglect caused some failure.

DO NOT DRIVE IT. If yer' burning coolant (which you ARE, coolant doesn't
evaporate) and it's a head gasket, it's just a matter of time till she
blows
all the way and then it's bye-bye bottom end as well. Get it fixed ASAP.
Cylinder leakdown test will identify the problem cylinder (s).

Doc

well then.. guess I'm screwed in the butt..<G>

Adair

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Sweet smelling exhaust and bad gas mileage

4x4 Chevy/GMC Trucks 4x4 Chevy/GMC Trucks Discussions (alt.autos.4x4.chevy-trucks)

Sweet smelling exhaust and bad gas mileage - 07-01-2003 , 12:50 AM

Re: Sweet smelling exhaust and bad gas mileage - 07-01-2003 , 01:01 AM

Re: Sweet smelling exhaust and bad gas mileage - 07-01-2003 , 02:54 AM

Re: Sweet smelling exhaust and bad gas mileage - 07-01-2003 , 08:54 AM

Re: Sweet smelling exhaust and bad gas mileage - 07-01-2003 , 09:33 PM

Re: Sweet smelling exhaust and bad gas mileage - 07-02-2003 , 01:07 AM