From what I've been reading I'm assuming I need a water pump and timing chain? I can't tell exactly where it's leaking from, but it looks like it's leaking right under the plastic reservoir. It is shooting it out as soon as the engine heats up and is spraying coolant out somewhere right by the reservoir. It also makes a loud whining noise when it tries to overheat. Any ideas before I take it to the shop? The reservoir cap doesn't look to good as far as the seal, but I don't think that is the problem.

 

You need to tell us where it is coming from, not just guess, we cant just start saying all the things it could be.. find out and if you need help, update.

 

Judging only from those bold letter words, I suspect a crack is there at the reservoir but it should not cause a loud whining noise and other than the crack, there may be some other issue.

If the reservoir cap is OK, the reservoir is pressurized when the engine heats up and the crack may begin to spill the coolant.

When there is a crack, the pressure will not be high enough and this makes the coolant temperature higher though. I suggest you to do a pressure test or you check the crack carefully.

 

Will this problem cause the heater core to act up?

 

YES, in a round about way, it will, even if the "core" is fine.

 

I had a bad radiator cap one time that was causing me to overheat, and when the car warmed up it was launching coolant at my serpentine belt, which was causing a real nasty squeak. Pressure check is def the way to go. I wasted time pulling out my entire radiator chasing steam from what I thought was a leak in the radiator, and it turned out to be a $10 cap dripping fluid onto the already hot radiator.

 

I should know something by Monday or Tuesday when I take it to the shop.

 

It passed the pressure test and has no leaks. Mechanic is still working on it. The cap passed the pressure test but failed the water test. Shop is going to try a new cap and test drive it. I'll give an update when finished.

 

It looks like the reservoir cap was the culprit. It was $136 for pressure test, new cap, and drain old coolant and put in new coolant. I feel like I got ripped off, but the problem really looked extreme when I saw all that coolant spraying everywhere. I took it to the shop for piece of mind. The mechanic said the water pump and timing belt was fine. I guess all I really need was a cap but I panicked because I didn't think a bad cap could cause that much damage.

 

That's fine, a learning lesson and conversely, with the warming weather, this is a lot less than overheating and killing the head gasket. BTW, with all that cooling service, did you have the thermostat changed?

 

Yes, the thermostat was changed 3 months ago.