Hello Everyone,

Thanks for reading this. I am a proud owner of an 82 300sd with 155,000 miles on the odometer.
Although I don't actually believe it has only 155,000 miles for some reason.
anyway, I digress.

White smoke arises from the suspension coiled spring on the passengers side into the engine compartment.

there is no white smoke coming from the tail pipe.

I suspect it may be the head gasket, but again, there is no white smoke coming from the tail pipe.

for the life of me, I haven't been able to pinpoint the source of it.

otherwise, the car runs pretty good. There is good power and it idles pretty smoothly.

it heats up to around 90.

Any thoughts?

I would appreciate any ideas

thank you!

 

thanks for your reply.

yes, that was the first thing I checked. No dice. there doesn't seem to be smoke coming from the vent line

it scares me that the temp is so high, I know 82 is proper, my last one operated at a perfect temp, this one is high and it wavers higher sometime, some of the times lower.

the previous owner said it was always that way when he had it.

I think radiator flush is in my future.

 

What does the "smoke" smell like? Could it be blow-by? As far as your temp. goes you might try checking the thermostat and see if it is opening all of the way, or if it is stuck in the partially open position. When they wear out they can do some strange things.

 

It does smell like blow by, but I've never seen blow by coming from that area.

I will check the thermostat, although the previous owner told me he replaced it twice,

And also thanks for tthe heads up on the temp sensor, it does bounce and move quickly