I recently purchased a neglected 95 turbo wagon with 174k. I immediately did a full stage 0, pcv, timing belt kit, heater core, coolant reservoir , brakes and the entire suspension. I went through the car really well.

Today I drove the car 15 miles to the gym and then another 15 miles to my buddy's house. As soon as I was coming up on his street. I saw a lot of smoke from the hood, smell of coolant and coolant light came on. I popped the hood and there was coolant all over the driver half of the engine. From valve cover all the way down to the radiator. I had the car towed and I noticed that the coolant is leaking heavy from the radiator drain plug. Now the radiator looks new and the previous claims he had it replaced, with an aftermarket one I'm sure. Hoses look ok. Now I had the fluid drained when I did the timing belt kit a week ago and I tightened the drain plug hand tight and it drove without any problems for over the period of a week (300 miles). Why would it leak so heavy all of the sudden? What else could it be. I looked at the coolant diagram and almost everything coolant related has been replaced.

 

Check the cap on the coolant reservoir.
It may be loose or the seal is worn allowing coolant to spray out when hot and under pressure.
Also inspect the reservoir itself for any signs of being split and leaking.

 

Cap and reservoir are brand new. The coolant spill was on the driver side, passenger half is dry

 

Is this an 850 or a 9XX?

 

850 turbo

 

Can you see where the leak is?
You refill it with water and fire it up. Leave the hood up and watch for it.