SeanIS350

iTrader: (2)

So I'm driving home last night from a dinner out. Mostly highway driving for 25 mins.

A few minutes from my house I notice I'm no longer getting heat from my vent, even when I turn the temp up really high.

When I pull into my garage I notice vapour/smoke coming from under the hood.

I get out the car and notice a lot of fluid dripping from my car. I look up the road and realize that I have been leaking a substantial amount of fluid while driving down the street.

I pop the hood and remove the engine covers. There is literally no more fluid left in my coolant reservoir behind the radiator. Also no more in that small reservoir at the top right of the engine.

There was also quite a bit of coolant in between the rad and engine kind of like it was sprayed everywhere. I noticed there was also some on the back of the silver engine cover when I removed it.

I literally had to put a cardboard box under my car to soak up all of the coolant that had leaked out.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone know what happened and how serious this is?

Any knowledgable input would be appreciated.

SC400MAN

iTrader: (1)

Could be really serious if the engine overheated enough to warp engine parts, like cylinder heads. Probably should have it towed to a shop to check out. Certainly do not drive it any more.

I had a radiator or heater hose break on my 87 Supra when I was about two blocks from the dealer. In those two blocks of mostly coasting, I lost all of the coolant and the engine overheated enough to warp the cylinder head, requiring major service needs!

bionictony

most possible failure would be a coolant hose rupturing. second possible failure would be waterpump. look at the coolant lines to see where it's coming from. how long were you driving overheated?

SeanIS350

iTrader: (2)

It's hard to say how long because I can't pin down exactly when on my drive home it happened. I noticed something wasn't right 2 mins from home with the heat/ac.

What I do know is that there was a significant amount of fluid in my garage when I got home so there was at least some fluid in the engine bay but not sure if it was actually circulating through the engine or already drained out.

Stupidly I didn't look down at the engine temp.

srt1

So add water to see if the hoses are ruptured. You have a leak somewhere, maybe a connection broke off. It should be fairly simple to find the leak. Inspect all hoses first. Inspect water pump and area/front of engine. It is good to hear that it was still leaking as you got home which indicates there was coolant left and not all leaked out. Have you ever changed your water pump? If so how long ago? If not are you due for a new one? Diff variables but let us know what you find. Hope this has helped. Oh btw dont pay for someone to do this, you can accomplish this yourself if you have the time.

SeanIS350

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the replies guys.

To answer the question, no I've never had my water pump replaced so still on the orginal one so it was probably due to go.

Spoke to my mechanic who is a Lexus master tech who opened his own garage.

He says 90% chance it's the water pump as well.

Will inspect the hoses tonight again and if I don't find and obvious leak I'm going to tow to the garage.

Will keep you guys posted.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Do your best to clean/dry all surfaces, and then add water into the cooling system. Start the car and inspect for where the leak is coming from. If possible, have someone monitor the temp gauge on the cluster during this inspection.

nosurprise

iTrader: (1)

This happened to my brother's BMW. It turned out to be a ruptured hose.

whitebeast

iTrader: (5)

water pump leak is not in your case cause with the massive of losing fluid in your case more likely hose failure. It's remind me of my friend G37s has broken heater hose and loosing all coolant

SeanIS350

iTrader: (2)

confirmed by my mechanic this morning... It was indeed the water pump.

MikeFoxx

iTrader: (8)

Should replace the hose while you are at it. Just one less thing to worry about later.

SeanIS350

iTrader: (2)

Got her back today... Good as new.