There was a puddle of coolant under my front bumper (97 GTS), drivers side this morning. Had to drive the damn WRX to work on one of the five or six nice days we get per year here...
I will check it out when I get home, any ideas as to the likely source or where to look first?
Only five or six days is a bit of an exaggeration. Let me think this through, by the time the snow melts and enough of the frikkin' pea gravel/sand/crap is off the roads it is June. The snow comes again usually mid to late October, so that makes five possible months. At least one fifth of that time it is raining, so four months are left. Two days out of each work week I am transporting my dirt bikes, so that kills another months worth of days. So I have a possible three months left. At least four weeks during that time are spent in business meetings in other cities (flights) so that gets me down to two months driving the viper days.
It's a process of elimination to find your problem. Do the easy stuff first.
1. Is the tank in the facia empty or full? Check at night with flashlight in donut hole in front of right front tire.
2. If empty, pull hose off surrogate tank (one with radiator cap), that goes to facia tank. Insert small funnel or turkey baster, fill with water. Does facia tank retain water? If not, small hole could be in bottom punchured by screw directly below, remove and check or hose connection is off.
3. If full, could be air in system. Is surrogate tank empty? Follow burping process correctly (ask if you aren't sure), replace radiator cap, clamp connections on hose going from surrogate tank to facia tank.
4. Worse things could be wrong but there is no sense worrying you about those now. Do the steps above and report back.
Well, it turned out to be the radiator, leaking along a seam (drivers side). I took the radiator out last night. Time to do some research on aftermarket vs. stock rads I guess. Any thoughts?
I am going to take it to a rad shop and see if it can be fixed. It only leaks when things get hot. I just don't know if I would trust it after having it welded - but it would certainly save money. I will at least replace the hoses.
I don't know the pricing of a radiator...but I looked into hoods just as a exsample only. A stock hood from the dealer installed painted ect....$15,000, no joke. After market hood. $6,000 still exspensive, but WAY cheaper. These cars do run warm, so maybe getting a better quality aftermarket radiator would be a good idea. It may cost $100-$200 more, but I'm sure it would be worth it.
If you're going to have them look at the radiator, you might as well have them look into getting a 4 core section. Just replace the stock center with a bigger one. I believe they are 28" wide, shouldn't be too difficult to get done locally.
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