Hey guys, help me diagnose this.

I was driving to work this morning when I started to hear a belt chirping. a few seconds later I realized that probably had something to do with the steam coming out from under the hood. So I pulled over and popped the hood. Mind you, my car is stock. I changed the oil last week and checked the coolant reservoir and it was within proper levels. But now there's coolant all over the forward engine compartment. No hoses seem out of place and this has never happened before.

So I limped it another 2 minutes to work. I'm running the heater. In that time temp gauge rises from 45 to %60 of normal range and the fan has kicked on. I cant figure out why this is suddenly going on. It usually gets treated pretty well.


Planning to top off the coolant and bleed the system after work. Side note, I've noticed the airbag dash light staying on a little longer than normal at startup. And the heater wouldn't immediately blow hot air when the car is warm and moving.

 

Water pump might be goin out.

 

A new oem radiator cap might help. Ck reservoir AND radiator, put cap on and run till warm, observe where leak is. Let cool before repair.
I haven't noticed a lot of folks talking about changing pumps but possible. Look for the simplest solution first - hoses, clamps, air in system, cap. Gl

 

Thanks fellas. I'll look into both. Really hoping it's not the pump.

 

Might not be. Since it does have pressure obviously. But sometimes the pressure isn’t from the pump. Cap might be it too. Didn’t think about that when I originally posted.

 

Update: The splash pattern suggests that the leak is somewhere atop the radiator but not from the cap area. Cant investigate further without taking it apart. But I poured a gallon of 50/50 in to get it home it only leaked out when the engine got up to %60 heat. But I'm pretty sure that gallon came back out.
Anyway it's parked for now.

 

Go to Autozone and rent the coolant system pressure test. It will only take about 3 mins to find your leak, and most of that is figuring out how to use the thing LOL.

 

If it’s the OEM type unit you probably have a hair line crack in a hose or along the top of the radiator.

 

I've got a new aluminum radiator on the way from an ebay store for 112. Strangely the specs and appearance are identical to what Mishimoto is selling for 380 (minus the lifetime warranty). I'll let you all know how it turns out.

 

It’ll work, but trust me it’s not a mishimoto lol

Should have told me I have a brand new OEM rad in my backyard, I took mine out after buying an actual mishimoto when I went F/I. Only out like 20 miles on it before I took it off after replacing my old one.

 

So I thought I'd wrap this up for anyone else with these symptoms.
Symptoms: No heat from the vents. Steam from the hood. Coolant all over the front of the engine bay.
Problem: Blown Radiator
Resolution: Ebay Aluminum radiator. $114

It's easiest to pull the cooling fan and radiator out through the bottom but I had to get the front end a couple of feet in the air.

This thing is massive at 3 times the thickness of the OEM radiator. But everything works great now. The reason that I couldn't see the huge hairline crack atop the radiator is that it's hidden behind the cooling fan cowl. I also had to straiten out the lower tabs on the new one. I'm sure Mishimoto sells a nice unit but at less than a third of the price for some major cooling capacity I'm really happy.

 

Yup. That’ll do it.

 

Cracka350zRadiator

 

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

Yeahhh I'm a little bored today..