I drove around a bunch on Saturday. Parked it. And after like 20 minutes I had probably over a pt of coolant on the ground. It was comming out of the front facia in the very nose of the car after the radiator. I examined all the hoses but everything seemed ok. It stopped leaking and I drove it around again. Overnight it didn't leak anymore. Drove around all day Sunday and parked it. After a hour or so there was a very small quarter sized puddle of coolant but in a little different spot. by the passenger front tire. I still can't see where its comming from, everything looks dry under the hood. going to do a pressure test tommorrow. But I was wondering if the Gen I's have any issues with the coolant system that I should be aware of that this might be?
Hopefully its not a blown head gasket, but I dont' think it is from where its leaking and amount of coolant that came out the first time.
First, make sure it is not just AC condensation. Also, if it were a head gasket, you would have white smoke coming out the tail pipes. You may want to check all the hose clamps and make sure they are tight, maybe even replace all the hoses. Good luck.
Is the radiator stock or an aftermarket aluminum one? If stock, check the sides. They have a tendancy to fail on the sides. You'll see corrosion and a bulging area where the two pieces meet.
The overflow bottle is behind the fascia on the passenger side and it is a fairly common problem to have one of the fascia screw puncture the overflow bottle if the car has bottomed out or inadvertantly scraped something.
I'd suggest pulling the front fascia and examing the overflow bottle. It might just need to be replaced.
Yea, it's the "other" overflow / reservoir located inside the front bumper fascia. Take all the bolts off the side of the fascia, located in the front fender wells and the bolts under the fascia. Don't forget to remove the black pop-in fasteners located in the middle (underneath) and on the very top of the fascia under the hood.
It's really pretty easy to remove the fascia and this will allow you to totally access and inspect the overflow tank.
well I couldn't of asked for a better result. Did the pressure test, it held pressure fine. Look at the radiator cap. Its junk. bottom thingy was broken. So replaced it. Should be good to go.
Do not replace the cap with a Gen1 cap. They have a drop center seal. Get a Gen2 cap. You will see that it has a spring center.
If you have this problem again and the overflow tank is empty look for the screw at the bottom of the tank and ensure it didn't puncture the tank. One of the facia screws is directly below the tank. I removed mine a long time ago and cut nearly 1/2 of it off and files it round to not puncture the tank.
I had the same problem using the anodized radiator cap. The spring hanging down was too long and would push up the cap, causing air to get in the system and pushing the fluid out of the overflow tank when parked after a ride that brought the engine up to temp.
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