1999 Mk3 vw golf 2.0 aba stick shift. 200,000 miles. I was driving home from work when I noticed lack of power when accelerating. I looked at my temp and I was just above operating temp, like just barely above. I got onto a turn off right away and was slowing down and took it out of gear to coast to a stop and it died while doing that. I got out and popped the hood and there was a lot of steam or white smoke(freezing temps here right now so hard to tell which) coming from the valve cover gasket area. Head gasket area was not smoking or anything. I checked my dip stick and no milky oil. Checked oil cap and no milky oil. Checked my coolant and I believe I was very very low. could I have blown my valve cover gasket from overheating the car? Also why did it possibly overheat at just over operating temp? Thermostat is also currently stuck open and has been for a while.
well if the coolant was low and air got in the system that's going to throw off the temperature sensor, fans won't turn on, engine will boil over making all the steam.
There is absolutely no way that a leaking valve cover gasket would cause those kind of symptoms. You have something else more serious going on.
I wouldn’t think so. Valve cover will usually just leak oil. I’m afraid it might be something a bit more complicated.
could I have blown my valve cover gasket
Valve cover gaskets don't 'blow'. Usually a leak will drip oil down on your engine and burn/stink until you notice it and fix the leak. But valve covers aren't under the higher pressure that a head gasket is and although you couldn't see anything wrong with it at the time, you better get some UV dye and check your head gasket. Very low coolant can easily ruin an engine. Hopefully you caught it in time.
