I just pulled up to the gym this morning and coolant literally DUMPED out of the bottom front passenger side of my car. the radiator is fine, the overflow is fine, I have no idea where the leak is coming from. the overflow was empty when I checked it. it hasn't overheated(yet) im pretty sure I may have just knocked out a hose but im not sure. anyone have any ideas?

 

Did you think about looking? How can we know where your car is leaking. There can be hundreds of places

 

Welcome- your first clue as to what is happening is that your coolant overflow bottle was empty. Most likely, it's the plastic bottle or a hose connecting to it that has come loose. Jack up the front of your car, support it on jackstands, remove the underbody tray (10 mm screws and one plastic pop up clip) and look for what the problem is.

Be sure to come back and let us know what you found the problem to be.

 

I have looked under my car... but there is literally coolant all over the underside so I cant tell where its coming from exactly. I checked the overflow bottle, theres no holes/cracks in it so I know that's not it, I checked as many hoses as I could without putting it up on a lift, im at work right now so I cant jack it up until tonight. I just filled it with coolant and drove it home(about 5 miles) and there were no leaks the whole time and my temp gauge sat where it normally does the whole time. it didn't overheat or even get hotter than normal, but I didn't drive that far. im going to check it when I go home for lunch to see if theres a puddle of coolant under it again. im thinking I knocked out a hose?

 

Clean out your engine bay, get a UV dye kit, add some dye to your radiator when the car's cold. Put on the cool UV goggles the kit comes with and turn on your UV lamp. Start the engine and look for where the leaking glowing coolant is coming from. It's an easy fix if you invest about $100 on . Otherwise, take your car to a shop.

 

i don't have a leak. I pressure tested my car and it held the pressure. I drove it to work today and it ran totally fine the entire time, then right before I pulled in it started leaking and getting hot. I parked and opened the hood and all my coolant was in the reservoir, and bubbling/ coming out the cap/hose because there was too much pressure. now im thinking it could be an air bubble

 

When was the last time you changed ANY of the coolant hoses? and there are a FEW… How many miles on the car ? Are YOU the original owner?? Got service records if not? Look at page CO-27 That shows ALL the coolant lines running around the back of the engine. MIght give you a better idea where to look. Oh and don't dismiss the hard piping that can leak too !

 

was the bottom hose cool or hot?

 

I literally had a similar symptom in my 2003 350z about a month back. I pulled up to a friend's place to give him a ride to work, sitting in the parking spot for about 45 seconds and coolant just started spewing everywhere! I checked all hoses and I couldn't see what the problem was.

My friend and I got some bottles of water, filled up the radiator and started the car, watching it as it warmed up while idling/parked. Low and behold, the top of my radiator was cracked length-wise at least 15 inches. Once it reached a certain pressure the radiator would start pushing fluids out of the crack. I've never bottomed out on anything or known to have impacted anything with the radiator. Perhaps the plastic becomes brittle over time?

I would recommend you do something similar to what I did, however make sure to use distilled water. Refill radiator, close it up, start up the car and watch. I decided on an OEM replacement, the job took me about 45 minutes. Not difficult at all.