havok209

Alright, earlier today on the highway I was going about 65ish and threw it in 3rd gear to pass someone. Shortly after, about 10 secs, I started smelling coolant. There was no bang, spudder, or performance loss... well not very much. Then about a few miles down the road I slowly laid into it in 5th gear and I started seeing white smoke so I figured "ok, blown headgasket" So I make it home with no issues and about 20 mins later I walk outside and theres a HUGE coolant puddle under my car and the radiator was completely dry. What would cause all of the coolant to leak and leak coolant into the cylinders?

Oh yea. My car has 168K miles so I was sorta expecting something.

swarthyfellow

check the back side of the motor... if that is wet it is most likely the intake manifold seal or it could be the heat core hose that comes up from the passenger side of the intake manifold. Also, let it sit for awhile and check to see if there is coolant in the oil as well as oil in the coolant, that is a dead give away its a head gasket. I don't think you would loose that much coolant from a head gasket though. If there is coolant in the V under the intake manifold that is the outlet for the water pump and it could be leaking from there as well.

havok209

I'll check it. There's coolant everywhere under the hood. Would that still drain the coolant reservoir though?

swarthyfellow

The reservoir is just what it says it is... a reservoir. It allows for the volume of coolant in the system to vary based on temperature and pressure. If the coolant in the system is low it will draw from the reservoir and will continue to do so when there is a leak. Full in the system with water to find the leak. If you can't find the source with the car off which you probably won't, turn it on and let it idle. If you still can't see the leak after the car reaches operating temp, rev it just a little bit at the throttle to build up the pressure and i'm sure you will see it then. Be careful not to spray yourself with 190 degree coolant though. Is there a CEL?

havok209

No CEL, I'll give it a shot tomorrow. Thanks for the help man.

uberstang1

You're water pump may have begun to fail, check to see of coolant pours out of the gasket area, or weep hole on the bottum of the pump.