Juggernaut118

2016 Eco boost mustang with 33,000 miles.

2 years ago and at 27,000 I was driving down the freeway at cruising speed and the coolant overheating light came on. It was 80 degrees out. I came off the gas and started to pull off and the light came off after a few seconds, so I drove it to a Walmart. The coolant temp gauge was high but other temp gauges were pretty normal. Cylinder head temp did get to 240 degrees.

I brought my car in to the dealer the next day and they pressure tested it overnight. No pressure loss and no coolant loss. They test drove it and they said they ran other tests but they were unable to find any issue. They said they drove it 8 miles and didn't see a coolant loss and they said they weren't smelling coolant burning. The service writer said that the orange coolant does slowly bleed off like that and I could flush it and use different coolant so I didn't do anything more with it and I topped up the coolant every now and again.

Yesterday I saw coolant on the garage floor and I'm seeing coolant at the back of the engine as seen in the picture. Any ideas on what is causing this coolant leak?

shaneyusa

Could be a lot of things. Don’t know your cars history other than stated above. Sounds like a weird event a couple of years ago. There is likely something there they missed. Things like that just don’t go away on their own. Could have been a thermostat or pump problem.

Your “leak” might be from the last fill, or any number of things… hose issue, seal issue, head gasket fail, or something bigger. I have learned over the years that it is best to start looking back at the last thing done. It could be related or something new. But it is best to eliminate known items first. I assume with your low mileage this car is babied so abusive things are probably off the table. Trace the coolant flow best you can. Should help eliminate some things.

Give us more info, pictures and maybe we can point you in the correct direction.

Juggernaut118

Thanks for the help. It’s the water pump.

shaneyusa

Glad you found it. That is not too bad. Could have been something way more serious and difficult to get fixed. Good luck going forward.