I have a couple 97 Stratus 2.4's but the one in question has 197k on it. It recently overheated (with the previous owner) She said she drove it another mile after the heat light came on and then parked it. She had it towed home and then put it on craigslist......and I bought it. I put coolant in it when I got to her house and started it up. Drove it down the road and back and nothing..no overheating so I took it home from St Louis to my hometown about 50 or so miles away.long story short it overheated on the ay home I added coolant again and finished my drive with no problems. I checked everything and come to find out the water pump was shot....leaked even after the car was off.....So i refered to my haynes manual (as i already had one because i got another 97 stratus.) and tore down the side of the engine to replace the water pump and timing belt. I got it back together a few days later and then i started it....ran like a champ. I went out yesterday to do some interior work and started it to listen to the radio and noticed what looked like excessive white smoke out of the tailpipe...Still transparent and disapated in a 5-7 seconds...did some research about white smoke and people say headgasket or cracked head. I checked the coolant in the thermostat housing while running no air bubbles, i looked at the oil dipstick today while the engine was cold and no water/antifreeze showing in the oil....I smelled the exaust and it smelled like normal exaust....even tasted(i know not a good idea but eff you all im a country boy that tastes everything) and the water from the exaust pipe tasted like water not anti freeze.....i did have to put maybe literally 2-3 cups (as in mesuring cups) in the thermostat housing to top it off... but nothing else....am i freaking out over nothing or should i have someone look at it...if it is a head gsket or head...please GOD no!! but if it is i dont want the wife driving it for long periods of time...oh and BTW it does not overheat anymore. any help will be appreciated...you can reply or email me directly at proud_daddy_of_2@rocketmail.com please put white smoke in the headline.

 

Welcome to DF
If you have a blown head gasket, the exhuast would be smoking for a long time. Also if you smell a sweet smell from the exhuast pipe,then you may have a blown head gasket. What you can do, is using a coolant pressure tester and remove the spark plugs and with either a flashlight or a bore scope. Put the cooling system under pressure and ck the cylinders for any coolant leaking into the cylinders.

 

Thanks for the input but i'm still clueless.....where would i get a coolant pressure tester? I seen this at Napa and was wondering if it would do the job http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Det...006_0282450468

 

OK so I went out and started the car today and there was no obvious sign of white smoke....I let it run for a few and i saw it again...but it wasnt very much...so i drove it a little and came back to the house and let it idle for 15-20 min and from the time i got out of the car to check it to the time that i came out later to check it nothing...it wasnt doing anything but running...so i determaned that it was water vapor. it was cold when i posted this and it was a fairly nice day today. it still hasnt used any coolant although i took some out to put a block tester in.....but it just kept sucking it from the overflow bottle.... so im going to rule this one as vapor....