Speculations, big leaks and bad juju.
 

Hey guys!

Had all my tires replaced in Maryland on Sunday morning after a sidewall failure- anyway the shop people said they also topped off my fluids and even refilled my bottle of washer fluid I keep in the trunk-nice!

Well, while driving back to Virginia Sunday night, I smell a bit of coolant and I figured maybe they spilled a bit and it's cooking off.. Car isn't throwing any codes or warning lights or overheating and my heater was working fine.

I don't go anywhere Monday and don't give it another thought Tuesday when I go to run errands.. I drive about 4 miles and my low-coolant light comes on and the temperature gauge is fine so I get to my destination and wait about 30 minutes so I can check it and yeah, it's low, I added a gallon and it was still very low. It's raining buckets so I can't tell if/what/where it's leaking from, so I gently drive it home- still only the low coolant light is on, the heater/defrost is still working and it's not overheating-- I get 2 miles from home and the car shudders a little bit, defrost stops working (heavy rain, no defrost = instant window fog!) and the temp gauge climbed a little bit, I let off the gas and it came back down and I made it home..

Waited for it to dry up today, refilled the water (pretty empty) and found that the water is coming out pretty heavy just behind the radiator area- cant see exactly where because if the splash guard plate-things, so I very gently drove it the half-block to my regular mechanic for a diagnosis.. Husband thinks water pump, I'm praying for a hose..

Anyway, two thoughts; First, should I be suspicious of the fellas at the tire shop messing something up? Second, is it odd that there were no faults?

Odometer is at 75, 500

Since you hadn't had the loss of coolant prior to the garage topping off fluids, they may inadvertantly caused something to go awry. Adding coolant only requires unscrewing the cap off the coolant expansion tank. Perhaps an old coolant hose was pushed to the limit by addition of coolant? Snoop around by placing a large piece of cardboard under the motor and let her run. Inspect for coolant dropping down.

Hey kitty, thought we lost you.

A couple things come to mind:

The coolant reservoir, which as you know is a common failure on our vehicles (at the nipple). Best to have a good look there for coolant leaks then start down.

Possibly a water pump but you will have to remove some stuff to know for sure (its kinda hidden).

Hope its not your DCCV leaking, left side down near the radiator.

Hows that grandbaby? :)

Good to see you back Kitty, the problems not so good.

It sounds like it could be a hose, I changed my water pump recently and it never let go in a big way, as I wasn't home SWMBO nursed it along for about a month adding water around every two days.

Treat Low Coolant as a potentially very very serious fault.

Hey guys thanks! Grandbaby is awesome, will be 2 soon!

I had initially thought of the coolant reservoir leak, and looking at what I believe is the resevoir, it appears intact. The water is coming out pretty heavy behind (maybe 6-8 inches) the radiator- kinda spread out a few inches wide.

JagV8 I agree that low coolant warning is bad news, but since the car is kind enough to alert at everything else I assumed there might be some other kind of failure fault alert.

That kind of coolant leak sounds like a water pump failing.

Almost 2 already.....wow, time is flying!

I think the next fault flagged would be engine overheat or something equally bad :(

Hunting with a torch & mirror on a flexible rod might help figure where the leak is but a borescope springs to mind, short of taking things apart.

Or the tank turret plastic bit.

It's in the shop now John, so we should hear the diagnosis soon.

Hoping it's a cheap fix!

Definitely the water pump, now my only nerves are that my local "regular" car shop is going the work and not my jag doctor..

Thanks for the moral support everyone!

It's not rocket science Kitty, I was able to do mine. :icon_cool:

You might want to think about changing the top hose at the same time, the one with the self destructing plastic turret.

I have to take her in for regular maintenance soon, I'll have them check it. Was very glad that they were able to get it taken care of, and for very less than expected.