Hey Everyone,
Have been doing some searches on line with definitive answers...

So last week the car was driven about 200 miles - pretty warm here. The car ran fine with no issues...
The next day when I walked into the garage, I was greeted with a large puddle of
coolant fluid on the garage floor - SIGH....

I found that my expansion/fill tank was empty... I confirmed that the two front upper
lines were locked and attached ok, and that the large hose under the tank was secure.
since the tank was empty. I started to mess with the tank to check for leaks there, and pretty
sure nothing came directly from the tank (that would have been too easy)

After re-filling the tank - I started and ran the car in the drive way with no visible leaks
and the fluid level stayed in place? I then got brave and loaded by jug of coolant and
off to lunch - drove about 10 miles in 80f temps to lunch and back, and at lunch checked
and found no leaks and back home with no leaks??? The car is currently sitting in the
driveway and now cooled off and not leaks and the tank level is still ok?

Fast forward about a week - and all has been ok until today - short city / short distance driving,
and when the boss pulled the car back into the garage it displayed a message that engine was hot
she shut it down immediately and I now have coolant on the floor again. This time my expansion tank
still has coolant in it.

I am about to change out of work cloths and get under the car to see what I can see
after pulling the cover...

Water pump or thermostat??

Thanks in advance for any assist here....

Joe

 

water pumps have a weep hole so the quick test is to pop off the timing cover (assume here you have an I-5) to see if any coolant has leaked out. Any smell of coolant in the interior (kind of a sweet smell when the heat first comes on)? I'd look at the upper radiator hose, lower radiator hose, sides of the radiator (seams), and both ends of the reservoir hoses (particularly where it goes to the radiator). Its also possible you have a crack in the reservoir so look around for any staining beneath it.

With that said, probably a good time to replace the thermostat and the reservoir cap (make sure to get the exact OEM/genuine part here since that is the pressure release should the car overheat).

 

Thank you...

I am off to get a thermostat today. This only seems to happen when the car is hot - suspecting now maybe boiling out the tank?
There is NO odor of coolant in the car...

JS

 

Well the adventures continue...

I pulled the thermostat and found that it was broken apart inside. I replaced that this morning, and got things back
together, but still appear to have a over-heat issue.

I have observed that when the car gets hot that only ONE of the cooling fans appear to be running - the lower fan on the
passenger side. I have marked the blade on the upper fan ( drivers side ) with a sharpie, and confirmed that it is NEVER
turning on? I have tried to get it to turn on with the AC on/off and that does not seem to matter.

Should these fans run at the same time - when should I be able to make that fan cycle?
Plan on doing some searching on here later...

Thanks
Joe

 

One fan is on when reach temperature.both fans should turn when AC is on. You can turn on AC to see if it’s working.