After an hour or so of driving (not continuous) in the rain today, I noticed steam emerging from the hood of my engine. It was obvious. The heater/defroster was on sometimes but not constantly.

So once I parked the vehicle and turned the ignition off, I popped the hood but there was no steam emanating from the engine. I could kind of smell oil though.

It ran fine however, except making a sound as if it's about to shut down...it's done that before.

Any ideas what's going on and how to fix it? Thanks in advance

 

It's going to be hard to figure it out without some more info. What year and engine? Was there anything else weird going on? Any abnormal gauge readings? Have you recently worked on anything?

 

is you black padding still on the hood?? I removed mine over a year ago and every time we get the cold rain in late fall/early spring i have some lite steaming off the hood as well since it is getting the hood a bit warmer.

 

2001 4.7 Liter. Nothing else weird going on. Only once today when I put the key in the ignition to turn it on but before actually starting it, I saw the check engine light. Then once the car was running, it disappeared. And no, I haven't worked on anything. I did apply some a few sprays of WD-40 to the grille to remove a screw a few days ago though. Maybe a vandal could've done something as I don't live in the best neighborhood...just trying to diagnose the problem.

 

The check engine light comes on every time you turn the key on, then goes off after a while or when you start the engine.

Maybe some wd40 got somewhere where it burned off?

 

When water gets on the radiator as in when driving in the rain, it will evaporate as steam if the air is cool with the appearance of something being wrong when it is not. Happens with mine every time I drive in the rain and shut my D off when its hot.

 

I've never actually noticed this before. Maybe it's something to do with the way they changed the radiator setup for 2000?