My mk3's smokin!

[vanish]

When I'm sat in traffic, the temp gauge goes up to about 100, the oil temp can be as high as 96-98 and smoke (or it might be steam) rises up from the bonnet! It looks well scary but as soon as I get onto an open road it goes back to normal. Oil and coolant levels are correct but it does this every time I'm queing in traffic.

Also my car is generally running really noisily and rough. It's worse at about 45-50 mph and there's a really loud resonance/vibrations which seem to be coming from under the glove box/ passenger footwell area. You  can really feel it through the floor so am I right in thinking its the exhaust?It quiets down a bit once you get past 60 but you can't drive the car faster than 80mph cos it' sounds like it's going to blow up! There might also be a loss of power, although I could be imagining this last bit. Any suggestions as to what could be the cause of the 2 probs will be greatly appreciated. Car is a '93 mk3 8v by the way!

Thanks in advance peeps

[16vmk3ash]

I Rekon its either your manifold or were the manifold joins to the rest of your exhaust.

My previous car was a XR2 which i had for 8yrs and i had a similar problem!
What was happening on mine was the bolts that hold the system to the manifold keep becoming loose (thus creating a gap), so when stationary all the gas would rise into the engine bay causing the temp to go through the roof and smoke coming from under the bonnet.
Also i was getting lousy fuel economy, a lot of noise, reduced aceleration and top speed. to fix it was just a case of re-tightening the bolts.

[Bodhi]

I've noticed steam sometimes comes off the bonnet of my Mk3, however only when the bonnet is wet. I would say that something was up with your car tho, as the temp guage shouldn't go above 90, whilst the oil temp on mine typically sits bewteen 80 and 90 - only high speed motorway runs in summer seem to propel it higher, up to 102-104. Still well below the manual's stated tolerance of 145C. Going by that it doesn't sound like you car is in immediate danger of frying itself, however I'd get that manifold checked as Ash mentioned.

[vanish]

Cheers for the help guys, much appreciated. Will get it checked out at the weekend.