Thread: Smoke test help for 3800 series 2 engine running lean, HELP PLEASE

I think it is the rack. About 3 years ago i could put power steering fluid in and it stay in for about 2-3months and slowly leak out. Now my fluid leaks out within a week or less and i never have full power steering it just makes it a tiny bit better. I'm so used to driving it w out power steering i barely notice but where the fluid leaks out is in the boots and a machanic told me id have to replace the rack to stop it so i just never did it and left it as is. I will try calling trans shops and see what they say. I haven't even changed the trans fluid EVER cuz soooo many ppl tell me theres the precious tiny metals in my fluid that i would lose swapping the fluid it could make my trans wayyyyy worse off so i have just kept topping it over ever since i had the car the past 10yrs.. only gotta put any fluid in 1 or 2 times a year if that. I never ever beat on my car or anything like that either so my trans should be good.

Side note i have a hard start still even after replacing fuel regulator and pump. I doubt the fuel filter could be this problem but coulddd it be possible?


Since my car started acting like this in the last week of December i was told i was running lean w a oxygen leak... coulddd i be running like this without the lean code or would it ALWAYS have a lean code if i was running lean w fuel or oxygen?


What made me notice my car acting different was that it was acting as if i had a clogged cat converter and i don't even have a cat i'm str8 piped so i couldn't figure out what the problem was. The main problems i have are hard start,no power what so ever when accelerating (but sometimes it drives completely normal) and the engine running hotish when i sit at a light or in slow traffic i'll go up to halfway hot,on eway im good n stay around 1/4 hot and anytime i accelerate it cools down as well. So i figured cars running lean,making it hot,burning up my coolant and my trans fluid and i figured thats why trans was being weird and the trans only acts weird in 1st gear to 2nd and sometimesss 2nd to 3rd but never on down shift. About 10days after noticing my car starting to get hot w the accelerator weird is when i checked my coolant and it was alllll burnt up like and thick and chunky so i whiped out what i could from radiator coolant input and refilled it and now i gotta refill it once every 10-14days but it only takes 1/4 the bottle of coolant if that and i have no coolant leaks...

HUGE part i forgot to mention... when this started happening about 2weeks after my gas milage was horrible i was getting about 6mpg literally and ran out of gas on the eway cuz my gas gauge was broken and when i did i looked under the hood in mid january and the bottom of my engine was glowing orange like the hot from a cig. Lots of burning smell comming from there. Once i didn't need to use my heat/defroster anymore this stopped tho and the smell went away also. But this is what made me think the EGR valve. Any input appreciated.