coolant leak prob; trickle mid-car

[trilate]

96-318ti; I changed the rad and thermostat; apparently good flow through the water pump however i get coolant on the ground (cup full) under the car (about where the stick shift is) and overheating after a longer trip. No real smell of coolant inside (heater core/lines?). All hoses and housing look ok. I remember reading a thread about it maybe coming out the

water pump? bad thermostat? heater core?

[Manolito]

The only place that coolant gets back that far is the heater core, unless it is running along a rail and dripping out there. If it were leaking from the heater core, however, you should smell it in the car.

Can you disconnect the heater hoses from the control valve and bypass your heater for the summer? If the problem disappears, you have it narrowed down.

I don't know about 318s, but on the 6 cyl, it sometimes takes several attempts to get all the air out of the system. Until you get all the air out you can have overheating problems.

[trilate]

great suggestion to narrow it down. I agree about the air in the system. It seems that air may be entering the system although i thought it was from the rad/cap area. At some time I thought that fluid was leaking out of the thermo housing and running down the block to that spot because I saw some bubbles around that housing...

[Jeron]

You have a good size leak if you get a cup full of coolant on the ground. There are lots of fittings between the heat core and the return to the pump. Get under with a flash light it should be easy to find with that much leak.

[VIDA]

if it's not an obvious find, and you're lost, buy a leak detection dye kit. dump some dye in your coolant and drive it around. then use the blue led flashlight and yellow glasses and the dye/coolant mixture will jump out at you like a 3-d movie