Jayhawk

I've had the car three days. Drove home from work - about 4 miles, but on an upper 90 degree day. Parked in the driveway and went inside. Came out half hour later and there was a sizable pool of viscous, thin, clear puddle under the front end. It looked like the Ford Premium Gold type of coolant. I looked under the car and really couldn't find anything. The only thing I could figure is that the dealership overfilled the overflow tank and that it what came out. No overheating issues or anything else the rest of the weekend. Anyone else experience this? Suggestions?

Sabre

I think you've probably nailed it....was just a bit over full and burped out the excess. When you shut down a hot engine, the water temp typically warms up a bit for a few minutes, as the airflow across the radiator has stopped. The coolant will expand as the temp rises and gets pushed into the overflow holding tank. As the engine and coolant cools, the coolant is pulled back into the radiator and the coolant system. If you were either just a bit over full....or right at the very top of the "hot full limit", it might have expanded just enough to overflow even the overflow tank. Take a look at the overflow tank level when the engine is cold....see if it's above or below the "cold" fill line. Keep an eye on the hot and cold levels, as well as you temp gauge for a few days. I'm betting that now that it's gotten rid of the excess coolant that it can't hold, that it won't put out much more.

Jayhawk

Thanks! When it is cold, it is a little below "cold level". I will mention it at the first service appointment. Love the car, though!

Dineau

Had similar issue with mine it was weard because my car is now 2 years old and never had this before.

So last week I decided to do a good engine cleanup and took the cap off to clean it throughly. After this cleanup went for a ride and at my surprise when I came back it started to leak badly, lost almost a pint of coolant...

I Tried squeazing the top radiator hose to see if it would leak again and I heard the air escaping from to cap, weird ! I than tried to re-tight the cap but it clicked and still air comming out.. took it off again to check it and everything looked fine, so put it back on and rechecked and still had some air comming out but less than the first time, so I took it off again and screwed it back from another position and than no more air leaking when sqeazing the hose !

So it explain why I never had the issue for 2 years (since I never touched the cap) and why it started leaking after I played with it.

It realy seems that this cap is very sensitive on how it's screwed in, don't know if it's the seal that is not thick enough or get compressed in a way that if you change the position it dosen't seal correctly.

Try this for fun: While the car is cold, squeeze the top radiator hose (left to the tank) and listen if you hear air escaping from the cap. It,s normal that you will hear liquid moving in the tank.

Good luck

spike

I'm in the middle of a similar situation. Had the car for 1.5 years with everything ok. Took the cap off just to look at the fluid and put back on with a click. Two weeks later I checked under the hood and to say I was below the "fill range" is an understatement. There was barely any coolant left in the reservoir! There were also white trails on the reservoir where the fluid escaped (back side of the cap) So I filled it back up and played with the cap a little taking it on and off and off making sure it felt really positive when it clicked (it didn't always). It hasn't leaked since (2 weeks ago).

I'd agree that how you put the cap on has something to do with it. Good tip on listening for air escaping. I'll give that a listen.

WERKED 66

i have a question when the car is bone cold how high should the coolant level be??? mine is below the cold fill line cold and hot do i need to add some coolant.also i have seen others the same way so i am not sure how high it should be..

spike

According to the owners manual, if it's below the "cold fill range" when cold then you should add fluid (50/50 mix of collant and distilled water). Don't bother reading it while hot.