Well I just drove to school, I get out of my car and I see water dripping down the front of the bumper. Then I though... ****... it's not raining, and then realized the liquid was green. I immediately thought water pump, but when I opened up my hood I found the coolant return hose on the top of the coolant reservoir had pretty well exploded in a high pressure coolant mess. Long story short, I had almost no coolant left and got really lucky that I caught this before causing major engine damage. I'm having a new reservoir shipped to me from ohio for $45 from a scrapyard, but I just wanted to give a heads up to fellow members out there to watch your temp gauges and look for leaking coolant. I'll post pics of the swap soon, because this seems to be a common problem.

 

I thought all x-types used the orange stuff or it's at least the recommended coolant.

 

I just put in coolant that will mix with all types of coolant

 

I recently replaced my "Upper Radiator hose assembly that is just under the air box. For the new coolant I went to the Ford dealer and asked for Orange. $22.00 per gallon. However, these days all coolants are made to protect aluminum blocks, green or orange. That said, there must be some difference...

The plastic coolant over-flo reservoirs in our cars are guaranteed to break every 70K miles or so. They usually start to split and crack at the nozzle that receives the black hose and clamp. It seems to be the stress of the clamp coupled with the heat under the hood and the hot coolant that break down the plastic. I agree, it's important to keep an eye on your temp now and again. It's an easy thing to forget about!

 

i thought the colour of the coolant indicated the quality green/blue cheep stuff red/orange was the good stuff

 

Well I've started to research the coolant confusion now and now I am even more confused than ever. I'm just going to flush my system and use Prestone extended life coolant

 

I found a small puddle 2" round or so under my car Saturday morning, looks like the top left hose leaking a tiny bit.

Gonna have to look at it good tonight.


Ugh!

 

bza, go on car-part.com and look for the part called "raditator overflow bottle" it's the coolant expansion tank and I got mine for pretty cheap compared to dealership pricing. Also, I have discovered that one of the causes of this part breaking is the clip which might come in contact with the hood over bumps. I'm going to find a way to fix this using parts from a hardware store, but in the mean time, make sure that clip is facing downwards so it doesn't contact your hood.