Hey guys, im a new member and this is actually my first post. I need help figuring out if my car is leaking coolant.

So I bought the car from an auction here in Texas about a month or two ago. its a 2005 Crossfire limited with about 190,000 mi (i know, shes been used and abused.) I got the car and it was a mess, i fixed the ac, cleaned it up, and the car is running like a top.in fact after about a week of driving it i took it on a 300mi road trip and it outperformed my expectations.

Anyway, about a week or two ago i started noticing a small stream of water coming from underneath the car. it wasn't a lot but i started to notice it after every ride.

we own a used car dealership and the mechanic on site assumed it was from the ac (the condensation, i guess?)

i checked my coolant levels and they seemed fine. So I ended up lifting the car up with a jack and i can see the general area (around the middle of the car) where the drops are falling from but i cant pin point exactly where. I'll try uploading a video i took. however, i got under the car while it was running, and what surprised me was that the liquid, I think it was water, was cold.

if it was coolant, wouldnt it be hot? anyway, yesterday I was driving back from work and the coolant light on the dash turned on but the temp needle only went about a hair above the half way marker. when i got home to check the car, I noticed the coolant reservoir did seem to have less liquid then it did before. I had it about 3/4 full and yesterday it was about 1/2 full.

So far, Ive only changed the oil in the car, but i haven't gotten around to draining the old coolant that was being used in the car. from what i can see it looks like they had it running on water not antifreeze.

any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations? im planning on keeping this beauty of a car for a long time.

 

Could be a water pump seal starting to go bad. Or it could be the fan rubbing the top coolant hose. There is a bracket the top coolant hose sits in (if I remember correctly). This hose has a tendency to make contact with the fan blades over time. Look for any rubbing on the uinderside of the hose. May need to change it & re-orient the new hose so it has lots of clearance with the fan.

 

i'll look into that, but the leak isn't coming from the area where the fan is. its farther back. maybe the water pump then. lemme see if i can get a video

 

Condensate from the air conditioner?

 

yup, he didn't really take a look but he says that it might just be the condensation from the ac. the days have been insanely hot over here, in the 105's 106's

 

so heres the link to a video i took. I know its pretty terrible, but maybe one of you guys might get something out of it. i'll try taking another one later

 

If the engine is at normal running temperature and that water is cool or cold then it is coming from your air conditioner, it's in the right location for that.

 

Well at least that gives me some hope. Now the only question i have is what happened to my coolant? why did it go down? Should I just drain it and replace with proper coolant?

 

Yes, give it a thorough inspection paying particular attention to the heater hoses that go down just to the right of the relay module box on the passenger side of the car, just follow the hoses that come out of the heater control valves and inspect all the other hoses, then flush the system with distilled water only, then refill with zerex g-05 50/50 mix coolant. It is the only coolant other than Mercedes or Chrysler that is recommended for that engine. Use the search bar at the top and type in drain and flush engine coolant and you will find out everything you need to know and how to do it 😀

 

And you can also look in the repair manual which is available online here at the Forum and it will explain how to do it and what to use. 😉 Again use the search bar.

 

Thanks for the suggestions! And, yeah from what i saw its a pretty straight forward procedure. However, This is obviously something that should be done once the engine has cooled right?

 

The exact procedure is in the manual😉 there may even be a sticky for it , I know there has been some very lengthy discussions about this subject. There is also some very useful information about this subject on the mb World forum, it's worth going and having a look.

 

Oh oh and welcome to the Forum 😉👍

 

Thanks for the warm welcome! And, I found the instructions on flushing the fluid using the searchbar! thanks for that. I did see one thing, it says to use a water hose to flush it out and to replace the thermostat. do I HAVE to replace the thermostat already, or could i wait it out a bit longer?

also, i wanted to give a bit of an update on the leak. so I found EXACTLY where its leaking from but im not sure if its normal. heres a video i took earlier today.

 

Yeah everything looks normal and changing the thermostat that's up to you. My Roadster is an 05 with 123,000 miles on it and I have not changed the thermostat yet, knock on wood everything is still functioning normal.

 

chello, sure looks like the drain tube for the A/C condensate to me.
Would not be a good idea to fix that "leak".