Coolant explosion?

[NickNickNick]

Hi all;

I went for a drive this morning, and about 10 minutes in noticed my temperature light was flashing. Then it went off, then flashed again. I pulled into a service station, and found my coolant reservoir nearly empty. I topped it up, and headed back home. On the way home, the temp light flashed again as I was pulling into my driveway. I popped the hood and had a closer look, and noticed a bunch of pink residue all over the place.

I drove last night for about 45 minutes without issue. Seems as though this happened overnight, but likely on the drive last night sometime. Never had any temperature guage issues last night.

Any ideas what happened? There is a very small puddle under the car, that I noticed now, but certainly not 2L of coolant. I plan to drive it to the shop tonight to have it checked out...do I risk doing any damage to the car by doing so? An hour after filling the coolant, it seems to be holding...there are no active drips or leaks anywhere visible.

[NickNickNick]

UPDATE: Added Coolant, ran car for about 2 minutes, no leak. Turned on the A/C, starting leaking what appears to be coolant. I took a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9DpenUABIc

[CTScott]

There are two hoses (about 3/4" in diameter that connect to the firewall to feed and return from the heater core. Take a look and see if one of them is leaking. If not, under the left edge of the carpet in the passenger foot well is where the drain tube for the AC system exits thorough the floor. If you get at it and find that the red fluid is coming from there, then your heater core has failed.

[NickNickNick]

So upon insepction it would appear as though neither of those hoses is leaking, nor is the drain tube beneath the carpet. Also, upon further inspection, it would appear as though that leak I videotaped is simply water mixing with the coolant residue from the A/C run off spout.

Bizarre.

[bronsin]

With the car warmed up tun the heat on and the blower also. If the heater core has failed there will be a strong smell of coolant in the car and the windows will fog.

[NickNickNick]

Originally Posted by bronsin

With the car warmed up tun the heat on and the blower also. If the heater core has failed there will be a strong smell of coolant in the car and the windows will fog.

No coolant smell, no foggy windows.

Went for a quick drive, no temp light, no difference in coolant level.

[CTScott]

Is the radiator fan coming on at all?

[andulong]

Maybe radiator cap was not fully tightened first time around. Warmed up and blew out some coolant? Just a thought.

[NickNickNick]

Radiator fan works fine. I burped the coolant through about 5 cycles.

The cap was pretty tight when I opened it up. Still doesn't explain how it got to that point.

[UTVitz]

I've had the water pump leak, but that was small compared to the mess under your hood. I would not mess with this. If that engine overheats too many times you'll be buying a replacement. And with only a light to warn you, they often say it can be too late by the time it comes on. Seriously, take it in, you'll, be ahead in the long run. One other thing is hot motors can warp head gaskets-expensive to replace. good luck

[NickNickNick]

I think I found it.

I cleaned off all the hoses and clamps, and found this guy has a leak somewhere.

[bronsin]

Unusual but possible. You could have a leak elsewhere thats collecting on that hose and dripping.

I dont know how you found it but watch the drip with the engine running for an hour or so. Try to see if its really the hose or someplace else.

Have the hose replaced if it seems the likely culprit.. SHould be cheap enough. After replacement watch the hose again for drips. If it does try to trace the drip.

You are probably better off diagnosing yourself if need be. Cheaper and not all shops are honest.

Dont let the engine overheat!. Its can run for 10 or 15 minutes and be shut off and allowed to cool to repeat the watching process.

Of course if you can change the hose yourself all to the good.

Unusual problem I would still suspect its the water pump leaking.

But persevere and tell us what happens!

[CTScott]

That is the low pressure hose for the refrigerant (Freon), so it would not make sense for coolant to be coming out of him. That may just be coolant that was trapped under the hood that has dripped down onto there.

[NickNickNick]

So I decided to just take it to the shop.

Bad water pump. They also stated coolant got all over the drive belt, so I'll need a new one of those.

I think I dodged a bullet...had CTScott not replied that is a freon hose, I'd have driven around today instead of taking it in. I am lucky enough that the waterpump wasn't completely gone.

Thanks all.

Nick

[bronsin]

Wow judging by the pictures it must have been leaking for a LONG time!

You know I wonder if all these leaky pumps are really bad. If they really need replacing. Maybe you could just retorque the nuts/bolts? Maybe you could just watch the coolant level and fill as needed.

If mine goes again I may just do that!

[auxmike]

NickNickNick, how many KM's on the old pump before she went on you?
I'll guess it was quite a bit as you have an 06. I went a whopping 30k on my original waterpump before it leaked, but no where as bad as that!
I recommend everyone open their hood and look at the underside of it for pink stripes...

[NickNickNick]

I went about 70,000km on this one. I had it replaced in July of 2011.

The original went for 125,000km from December of 2005 to July 2011.