Car Dies When Stops; Excudes Burning Smell from Exhaust; CanI drive to on road trip today?

kalexand33 wrote:
> I have a 93 Altima that, beginning last night, is often dying when I stop
> at a stop light. The RPM needle is low and jumps quite a bit -- it also
> excudes an awful burning smell out of the exhaust. Generally, when I'm
> accelerating, it's okay -- but a couple occassions today, I noticed the
> needle jumping quite a bit when I'm going 30-40 MPH.
>
> Also, the past few weeks I noticed the engine doesn't heat up well --
> usually when I turn the heater on, the engine cools off and doesn't blow
> out much heat. Don't know if it's related. The oil is a pinkish color --
> not light brown. It was changed about a month ago. The distributor and
> spark plugs are new -- only a few months old.
>
> I need to drive from Chicago from Milwaukee later today. No mechanics
> open on new year's. any tips? advice?

Pinkish oil is a symptom that you have coolant water leaking into your oil
system. Don't drive that car another foot until you have it towed in and
fixed. If you do, you may very well turn a $300 problem into a $5,000
problem.

(Added crosspost to rec.autos.tech, which is where this question belongs.)