Question for you Loungey Mechanical types:

[regularguy]

OK. I lent my car to someone who took much longer than they were supposed to, and they had good reason to believe I'd be pissed. They said that smoke started pouring out from under the hood, so they rested for a while (hence the delay) and then drove home (over 100 miles) without incident or smoke. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the more I think about it the more suspicious and annoyed I get. I realize this isn't much to go on, but does this sound like BS to you?

[IndianaJones]

1. what does it look like under the hood? nt.

[regularguy]

6. I only had a chance to take a quick look and there wasn't

much light, but it looked normal to me.

[IndianaJones]

7. what color smoke? check fluid levels...check engine oil color. sound like a good chance its BS. nt

[Callalily]

2. Ask the Car Talk Guys.

I just love their show. I'm sure they'll be able to help you out.

http://www.cartalk.com/index.html

[regularguy]

9. Don't drive like my brother! nt

[flvegan]

3. Could be BS, might not be.

I'd check your fluid levels. If true, you may have a sticky thermostat or a sensor misfiring. Your washer fluid reservoir could've leaked onto the manifold, causing the steam (I'm really reaching here). If steam was "pouring out from the hood" one of these will be low. If it's the coolant, I'm amazed they made it without further incident. If neither are very low, I'd be inclined to think BS.

What kind of car is it?

[Haole Girl]

4. Sounds like they drove the hell out of your car and it got overheated

I'd never loan it out to them again.

[Droopy]

5. I'm not much of a mechanic

But I had a little Isuzu pick up that did something like that. Got all kinds of white smoke out of it then it quit and ran fine for a while. Then one day the damn thing wouldn't start. Turned out that it had a blown head gasket.

[regularguy]

8. Thanks for the responses. It's a Jeep Cherokee '97.

And as the Car talk guys might say: "The Caah is a red Caah".
I'm going to look more closely under the hood and check fluid levels when I get home (Thankfully, I don't drive to work). Then I'm just gonna let it drop since not much good can come from accusations that aren't provable. I just hate being BSed to, esp. out of cowardice. Who doesn't? Aside from people who vote Republican of course....

[Haole Girl]

12. Ahhh...Jeep...

I had to replace the radiator after just 2 years on a 1996 Jeep. You might check and make sure it's not leaking radiator fluid.

:shrug:

[jobycom]

10. It could happen, for a lot of reasons.

Oil on the engine, sudden water on the engine (steam), some foreign substance catching fire briefly under the hood.

Also, the car could have overheated--that would cause steam, not smoke, but most people don't know the difference. Could be several causes for this, from a plastic bag getting stuck to your grill to excessive strain on the engine from going uphill or towing something.

There are also electrical problems--a wire or fuse or relay could have burned out, or even dust on wiring could catch fire. This wouldn't be a lot of smoke--usually more of a smoke smell. I once had dust in my steering column catch fire, so that I had smoke jetting out of my steering column. Lasted about five seconds, but aside from scaring me, did no damage.

Then there are possible long-term damages--blown gaskets, broken hoses, cracked exhaust pipes--that would repeat if you drove it a bit. From the description, this sounds unlikely, but some things would only repeat under the right circumstances.

But I'd guess from the fact that you are asking that you think he's lying, and that's the best judgement anyone here could make. :) Just don't loan him your car again. If you really want to trap them, get a detailed explanation--how much smoke, what color, what did it smell like, how long did it last, did any idiot lights come on, what did the temperature gauge read? Then post all of that, and the mechanics here could give you a better idea. Also, the more a liar talks, the more they contradict themselves, so maybe you'd figure it out.

Just my thoughts.

[regularguy]

11. Thanks for your response! nt

[DS1]

13. Might have been wearing it out with the A/C on

and all that jazz.

I'm never loaning my car out to anyone again, somehow they always manage to fuck it up. The last straw was when my moonroof came back inoperable. "We only tried to open it and it went clunk!". Fuck you!

[krispos42]

14. I had the A/C compressor on my car go

The clutch burnt out and I began smelling and seeing smoke. As long as I turned the A/C off (and kept the clutch disengaged) the car ran fine. But if I tried to run the A/C, smoke!

[CreekDog]

15. ah, it's a Jeep

sounds normal to me.

but the story sounds bogus. if you call the Car Talk guys, they will say:

"boooooooooo-gusssss".

if you get lucky they might call your friend, which would be very entertaining for the rest of us. as you may have noticed, frequently when a wife or daughter calls about something their husband or dad has said about the car, these guys call them up.