I was driving to work when I noticed after a few miles the temp was all the way cold still. I pulled over and the radiator was very low and the recovery tank was empty. I had a gallon of water in the trunk so I topped it all off. It struggled to start and the drove perfectly to work. When I got to work and turned itoff, i could hear it spewing coolant. I can't see where it is coming from but it is somewhere by the firewall on the passenger side. The hoses look ok (most are new). It barely turns over though. I am thinking I might have a blown head gasket and coolant is leaking into the cylinders. Sigh..... Now to figure out how I am going to get this thing home.

 

Sounds like a heator core hose leak. When you get it home, pull the plugs and see if they are wet.

 

how would that explain the struggle to start?

 

Coolant on plugs, hard to start.

Dude, I'm doing the best I can from your description. You have no coolant, it's leaking from the firewall/p side. What's on that side? I guess it could be spraying from the gasket but unlikely.

 

If your engine is still hot and empty of coolant,then stop trying to start it,let it cool down. When you overheat an engine,all the internal parts expand to the point of engine seize,this may explain the hard to start issue.

If it is cooled down,(this takes hours to happen in the summer months) and still hard to start,then you may have serious problems.


Anyhoo,as jeff stated,check the heater core valve hoses on the firewall for the source of the leak,if no broken hoses are found,check all other hoses on the engine,one may have sprayed coolant to the rear of the engine..

 

well I lucked out, the "c" shaped hose that goes from the neck to the waterpump had a hole on the bottom side. I have an Optima RedTop which tested out to be bad. Hose = $15.99 and a gallon of antifreeze = $11.99. Battery exchanged for free. I was getting confused on the responses because coolant on the plugs wouldn't make it struggle to turn over, just hard to start. Phew...

 

haha go figure you had a pair of unrelated problems emulating a combined problem..

 

Ahh,the u shaped one blew,that same hose popped a leak this past spring on my wifes vg,except it blew it all over the intake/bottom of hood area,luckily she smelled the coolant right away and pulled of the road.

gotta love the small fixes.

 

Mine was spraying on the bottom part of the hose on the curve. I was trying to fiind the source of the leak in the parking garage with a flashlight (while holding the hood up) and couldn't narrow it down to a hose. Note to self: BUY NEW $#*&% hood struts.

 

meh,hood struts are over rated.

 

ur fix is better than mine. I usually have a 2x4 in the trunk. maybe I will paint it the same color as the car and put a pin stripe down it. Or better yet put a hinge on one end and screw it to the core support just like a prop rod lol.

 

i use a broomstick and put it in down at the lip of the bumper inside the grille, and up a hole in the hood's sheet

but i know your pain. i'm losing coolant too, but at least i know where from.

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=IMG_0137.jpg

i just need it to hold on another 3 days. the replacement is sitting in its box on the pile of junk at the foot of my bed.

 

i just put a new radiator and thermostat in. All the hoses are new now except the lower. Guess I should replace it here soon. It's doomed fate is probably approaching sooner than later.