Massive engine coolant leak!
 

I just parked my car a few minutes ago, and noticed some steam at the very front of the car coming from the grill. I didn't take notice at first because we had a light sprinkle of rain but the steam kept appearing and caught my attention.

Opened up the bonnet and it smelled sweet-ish, ran my fingers across the bay (it is dark outside) and picked up some greasy liquid. Fetched my emergency torch from the glove compartment and started searching for leaks but couldn't find any? The radiator is wet down the left hand side, and i poured about an ounce of water out of the air intake pipe. Toothbelt is dry.

WTF has happened? It was running great, and no warnings on the dash. I'll take some pics tomorrow too dark now. Oh, and the coolant reservoir was bone dry, but engine wasn't overheating..

What is the most probable source of the leak?

Split hose?

There is a small hose that runs along the top of the radiator that runs to the reservoir. Mine busted open at the t-fitting under the fender sill on the passenger side.

That would explain the dry tank.

This is drivers side, and the tiny hose on top was my first guess too - totally fine :(

You should post pics of the wet area, then the whole engine area. Just to give us an idea of where to suggest.

your left or right will mean more when you can define what it is ,
try while sitting in the car the ???? side of the radiator is wet ,


My guess is the inlet to the radiator or top hose side end tank has split at the seam where its crimped to the core.
Roger sells new tanks and O ring seals you replace both the tank and the seal and usually the inlet side of the radiator is the one that gets swapped out the outlet side doesnt usually cause issues

Left is of course drivers side, as always when pointing out something on a car...

And MP, read the post it's too dark for pics ;)

I figured you were describing your engine as you were seeing it as if working on it.

I try to describe engine bay locations with "passenger or driver side".

Hope you can fix it cheaply. :cool:

Riber, invention called Flash. ;)

Exactly how I thought it was. Most of us describe as if we are working on the vehicle from the Front facing engine. Like Maleficio says, unless you specify pass/driver side. The confusing part though is that there is such a thing as a RHD (Right Hand Drive).

Hence, why I asked for pics.

Maybe it would be better to say "port or starboard"? No confusion there regardless of driver configuration.

:cool:

A hose is the most probable. As soon as it's light it should be pretty self explanatory. If it's dried up fill it up with water and start the car (don't overheat it). It sounds like it will show up pretty quick. Unless one of us stands next to the car we are all just going guess and name every possible hose, seal and random source we can think of

btw you didn't get a low coolant light with an empty reservoir? somethings not working right there

Good points, Pete.

Problem solved!

It was just a pin-point leak in the main return hose that would only show when the system was under pressure. Quite clear in daylight, frustrating late in the evening..

The reason I flipped is because my girlfriend and I have just done a 3000 mile roundtrip of Europe without any hint of trouble from the car, cruising at 100 mph on the autobahn all day with occasional bursts to 140 to show the odd Merc or Bimmer driver who's boss ;)

We come home to good ol' Denmark and first the car refuses to start for two days (faulty relay), and now this? Just glad it didn't happen somewhere in Italy.

Thanks for your time and help as usual.

THIS Thread.........

...is worthless...

...without following the the advice on Post #4 ;)