I have a question for the hive mind.

Was driving when I noticed that the temperature gauge was up all the way. Pulled over immediately and noticed a trail of coolant and the coolant was leaking out of the bottom slowly but enough to form a drip that runs off the side of the road.

Standing in front of the car facing it, the leak is to the left where the battery is. I considered water pump but I think if it went the car would have stopped because the timing belt would have shredded. If it was water pump I don't see how the coolant would drip on the left unless it rides the lower half of the engine to the left and drips off there.

Rad hoses seem fine. Took a look into the gap between the radiator and bumper and saw wet on the lower part. I think it's leaking from there. It's leaking above that black lpastic splashguard that's under the car and dripping off of it.

Car drives fine for a block until it reheats again and I'm forced to pull over. We're thinking we can put water in the radiator and limp it to the mechanic to try to diagnose. But I think it might be a cracked radiator? It's aftermarket.

The second time I pulled over the RPM's were going up and down erratically before I did. Didn't happen the first time. I think this is a dead give away that there's air in the coolant system that possibly got in when the car was first shut down on the side of the road since I've read that air in the coolant system causes erratic RPM until the air is bled out at the thermometer.

Any thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Should I remove the lower splashguard to get a better look at it? If it's the radiator I think I can do the job myself but I think I would get the mechanic to do the coolant job for me. How much do you think would be a good estimate to do a radiator replacement job and a coolant flush? Or would a refill be fine? If there's air that's definitely got to be bled out right?

 

Since the leak is coming from the right/pass side...not the wp.

Now there are enough coolant hoses over on that side (right/pass) it is hard to say what or where the source of the leak is.

Need to figure where the coolant is coming from...either way...YOU CAN DO THIS. Find the source and we can go from there.

 

You can rent a radiator pressure tester to try and find the leak. Look at the plastic on the radiator and the two hoses.

If you can replace the radiator, refilling will be simple.

Search YouTube for these two Ericthecar guy videos:

hUzOTnsWImI (this shows how to look for the leak with the pressure tester)
zUpXgAJ1gjU (this is for coolant refill)

 

Hey guys.

So we put in the water and lagged it back, it was dripping worse than before now. It didn't overheat once on the way back. Mechanic did a test and deemed it was a broken radiator.

I'm worried about the possibility that excessive engine heat may have cracked or warped the head gasket. How much heat is excessive? The temperature was up to the top of the gauge and it could have been there for a while as we didn't notice until we glanced at it. The enigne wasn't smoking or anything, coolant was still in there because it was dripping when we pulled over.

Like the fuel gauge do they set these things to be lower than dangerous?

 

If you had no overheating problems when the radiator was full, and the car ran normally, you should be ok.

 

Well, whether the worry is justified or not, the next steps are the same. Put in a new radiator and then keep an eye out for signs of head issues.