I just got back from the car...

I popped off the radiator cap, and got the car running nice and warm...

When I did, coolant started pouring out from somewhere I can't see. From the
bottom of the car, it looks to be from between the fender and the oil pan...

Could this be the heater core?

Is it safe to bypass it? We're not going to have much need for a heater
during July in Texas...



"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "SMoo" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I just ran outside and looked, and the radiator is half empty now!
>>
>> I can't tell if there's coolant dripping anywhere, as we have a gravel
>> driveway...
>>
>> I'll start the car in a while and see if there's a coolant smell from the
>> tailpipe (The one tailpipe that isn't fake on this car)
>>
>
> It's hard even with a concrete driveway to see coolant leaks. What
> happens is you get a small hole, when the cooling system isn't running
> the coolant just drips out a drop an hour or so, then when it gets hot
> the pressure in the system opens the hole up and the coolant squirts
> out at far higher volume.
>
> Did you put a new rad cap on it?
>
> Fill it with coolant, and if you have jackstands (nice big fat ones)
> jack the front of the car up, start it and run until it's nice and hot,
> then turn on the heater full blast in the car and sniff for coolant smell,
> if you smell it coming out of the air vents in the car, the heater core
> is leaking.
>
> Then, shut down and immediately get under the car and listen for
> hissing, and coolant dripping. Coolant can run quite a ways down
> and if the leak is in some inconvenient place (like the underside of the
> heater bypass hose that is invisible from the top and the bottom
> of the engine) you may have a devil of a time figuring out exactly
> where the coolant is coming out from.
>
> Quite often water pump bleed holes are obscured when the pump
> is on the vehicle, so don't rule out the water pump if you see coolant
> coming out near it.
>
> If you can't find it in the engine compartment or passenger compartment
> then
> a head gasket leak is the only other possibility. But I would bet it's
> not that, since you already posted that you got a strong coolant smell.
>
> Needless to say, running an engine for a long period of time with that
> much coolant missing is going to destroy it.
>
> Ted
>
>