I was driving my car today when someone pulled up next to me at a light and said "hey! your radiator is leaking". I looked at my temperature, and being normal, did not think much of it. (there was a little steam coming from under the hood). I drove for another 1/2 mile and then looked under the hood. There was a fair amount of coolant spilled around the engine. After stopping for 5 min and checking that the rad cap was still on I kept driving. After getting back on the freeway, my temp began to climb and the engine lost power and made bucking/pinging noises. I pulled off the next exit, I am now idiling at 2000 rpm and the engine bucks pretty bad when starting out. I stop at a parking garage to inspect. The hose coming off hte right side of the radiator (viewed standing in front of the car) was completely seperated from the radiator. More coolant leaking. I let it cool off for a while and proceeded to get back on the freeway. It wasn't too bad until about 10 min later. By then it was bucking alot whenever i pressed the gas at all. (But temp still normal). I pulled over on the side of the freeway and called a tow truck anf got it towed the last 5 miles home. While waiting for the tow truck it was steaming wuite a bit.


Now that i am back home, i want to try and fix this.

-Is there more to it than re-connecting (or replacing) that hose and refilling the rad?

-What would the cost to fix be if i took it to the dealer? (just for an estimate).

-What could have caused this?

-Did i hurt the engine?

 

the second time you stoppedwhen the bucking started you should have got it towed.... i have no idea all i know is that i blew my GSX up from a coolent leak... i noteced 90% loss of power then the engine just shut off and smoke was everywhere... i hope theres no perminent damage.. GL

 

You should have pulled over right away when that person told you that your anti-freeze was leaking all over the place. The fact that you saw steam under the hood is a bad sign. You should have pulled over and let the engine cool off and started inspecting the radiator hoses, I bet you that you would have found out sooner that a hose is loose and you could have tightened it and everything would have been fine. Now that you kept driving it under those conditions, who knows what you could have done to the car. All you could do now is fix that hose and hope you didn't blow the head gasket or even crack the heads for driving your car while overheating.

 

Was the car really overheated? The temp gauge indicated normal temp almost the whole time. If it hadn't i wouldn't have kept driving.

 

The engine losing power, bucking, and pinging....that indicated something! Steam coming out of the hood, minimal or not, is another sign. What more do you need for the car to tell you that its overheating? Maybe you were waiting for more steam to come out but by then you've probably blown a head gasket or cracked the heads.

 

Ok i guess I learned from that experience. How do i fix it now?

 

You said you found the upper radiator hose disconnected from the radiator. Fix that for starters and do a visual check around the engine area. Check the other end of that upper hose, see if its loose or the ends are cracked, if so replaced. Do the same with the lower radiator hose on the leftside of the radiator down below. Refill and level off the radiator and the reservoir. Then start your car, idle it for a while, and see if the car still overheats.