I'm Ssssssmokin'!
 

Pulled up to work today and after having a cop on a bike following me for a couple miles in fear of getting pulled over for a muffler delete, I park my car and see some smoke. So I pop the hood and the smoke goes away (wasn't too much of it).

I did some investigating and found some engine coolant on the engine block. I look at the reservoir and NOTHING is in there, which doesn't make sense since I had filled it on Monday.

I think I found the problem. One of the clamps that goes on the hose where the coolant control valve to the engine (one where the engine is) is loose. I'm pretty sure that's the problem, but I'm wondering if it could be anything else. I was trying to take out the throttle body to install the copper piece for it, but gave up after I couldnt get the bolts out...I was in the process of removing the plenum but couldnt get it off due to one stupid hose in the back that I couldn't take off so I put everything back together. This is the first time I noticed it since Monday.

Just wondering if anyone has thoughts if it COULD be something else in addition to the engine coolant being burned. I would post pics, but stupid Verizon is not sending the pics from my phone to email.

Could be a leak somewhere, you said something about a clamp but you weren't too sure.. There are always many different variables when it comes to coolant and leaks.. This is definitely not something you want to ignore.

If you don't have time to check for any kind of leak or have time to fix it, then I'd avise you to keep pouring more coolant/water in till you have time.. DO NOT RUN DRY OR ALLOW AIR IN YOUR COOLANT SYSTEM.

I know that the clamp is loose for sure. It's not where it should be. I had pulled it down on Monday so it's about 2 inches lower than it should be. Right now I'm at work so nothing is going on with vehicle, just resting. Autozone is about a mile away so I'm just going to walk there when I'm off and buy some coolant and hopefully borrow tools so I can put the clamp where it needs to be, otherwise I have to drive home about 20 miles.

I guess I made what I said sound a little confusing. I was wondering besides the clamp, if there should be anything in particular to look for. I'm 99% sure this is the problem since I could see coolant that had leaked from that specific connection to the hose.

Great, now I have more issues than I suspected. Over the weekend it was a little hot and I decided to use the AC, but what a wonderful surprise I got when all it did was blow hot air, so I made an appointment with the dealer for tomorrow in regards to that.

I still see my engine coolant fluids running low, but no leaks that I can see. I saw some more smoke on the way to work again and it happened after accelerated fast up to about 50 mph. I was waiting on the onramp so I saw the smoke come out sporadically for about 3 minutes and it went completely away.

Only thing I did prior to this occurence was take out the intake plenum, but I didn't do it completely since I couldn't get one of the clamps off the hose from the back of the plenum. The plenum spacer seems to be sitting just fine, so I don't think it's out of place. Is it possible I didn't tighten it enough or tightened it too much? Another thing I did was disconnect the hose from the coolant control valve for the ISO thermal portion of the spacer. I also removed the Z tube and pop charger, but never disconnected the MAF sensor (not that it should have anything to do with my problems). Those were the only things I did. I just don't understand why it leads to low levels of engine coolan (and it running out) and smoke coming from the engine bay when accelerating quickly.

You said "Smoke" not steam. Did it smell of coolant or Oil?

I guess it would be steam, seems to be thin. Right now I can't smell anything due to a stuffy nose, but opening the hood it sorta smells like coolant.

I also just realized that I have had the coolant control valve in the ON position when it should be in the OFF position, not sure if that would cause any of my problems.

Just got back from my break at work and I decided to check on the car. I did spot some engine coolant on the underbody cover right below the engine. It seems to be towards the middle or back of the engine where it has leaked since there is nothing in the front. I checked all the hoses I had disconnected and all of them are dry and show no residue. The coolant in the reservoir is completely gone and the one in the radiator is about two inches below where it should be. I would take a look but since it's going to the dealer I'll just mention the coolant leaking...which probably is related to the AC not blowing cold air.

Ok, got back from Metro Infiniti and here's the deal. AC doesn't work because the AC belt is gone...literally shredded, now I know what the string cheese looking stuff is.

As for the coolant leaking they said they don't see anything and to take it to Cerritos Infiniti since they replaced the radiator a few days before I purchased the vehicle. It's kind of stupid that I would have to do that since they mentioned they would pressure test it and such, but service at Metro is like flipping a coin.

They want to charge me almost $250 for the AC belt so I said I'll come back...which I'm not, I'll have my mechanic do it for a fraction of the cost. At first the guy was trying to tell me that my intake could be causing the problem by pinching some of the hoses.

Oh, and get this, probably going to piss off alot of you guys, as it did me, but he said he wouldn't believe 99% of the things that are said on the G35 forums because they are not true. Then I pointed out several issues I had with my car which I heard about through this forum and his response was, "well everybody knows about those." What a dip****.