Dumped 3L of coolant... What Gives?

[1994viper]

I was driving around today and I forgot to turn on the fan switch, which I installed so the car wouldn’t heat up much. While parking I noticed my temp climbed to the 5th mark
I I I I I I. A that point I turned on the fan, turned the car off and left. To my surprise, after I came back there was a stream of liquid coming downhill from my car. I was short more than 3 litters of coolant mixture at that time. Filled it up with water and drove my friend home. Looked under the car and it was fine ( temp was fine too, fan on ) Drove home and nothing again. ???????? I had a warped thermostat assembly last year, which I replaced, but now I cannot see where the coolant came from. Doesn’t seem that it came from the overfill tank ether. ?????? I had two puddles one was located kind of to the left and the other to the right of the centre of the motor.
What gives?

 

[1994viper]

Oh yea! I am a VCA member now too, just need to change the status.

 

[dave6666]

Other than you warped both heads and therefore a puddle for each side, I don't know the Gen 1 cooling system layout well enough to speculate on the source of the puddles under the car.

But a few comments on your fan control scheme. Install a thermostat; use the Roe kit or something. One, it will automate what you've proven you can fail at - turning the fan on. Two, the engine needs to warm up and operate with a controlled set of parameters. A thermostat is better at that than you are. Or me for that fact.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

I was driving around today and I forgot to turn on the fan switch, which I installed so the car wouldn’t heat up much. While parking I noticed my temp climbed to the 5th mark
I I I I I I. A that point I turned on the fan, turned the car off and left. To my surprise, after I came back there was a stream of liquid coming downhill from my car. I was short more than 3 litters of coolant mixture at that time. Filled it up with water and drove my friend home. Looked under the car and it was fine ( temp was fine too, fan on ) Drove home and nothing again. ???????? I had a warped thermostat assembly last year, which I replaced, but now I cannot see where the coolant came from. Doesn’t seem that it came from the overfill tank ether. ?????? I had two puddles one was located kind of to the left and the other to the right of the centre of the motor.
What gives?

If the fan was off while driving and you turned it on and shut down the engine, even if the fan continues to run, the coolant isn't circulating. The warm (very warm) fluid in the block will not pass through the radiator anymore, expand, boil, and puke out. That's not too surprising.

After the puking episode you saw coolant on the ground. That means it filled the front fascia and leaked out through one of a few drain holes. There are some on each side of the fascia, so getting puddles on either side easily happens, and may happen for several trips until it all leaks out. But from how you worded it, I'm not sure if the two puddles were from the first episode, later episode, or when.

To get rid of the smell and also see where it will drain, remove the big round plug in the wheel well as if you were going to reach the overflow container. Stick a garden hose in there and turn the water on. It'll drip out on the driver side in front of the tire.

 

[Martin]

On a related note, if it's still leaking coolant and you have pets, make sure you rinse that coolant away really good. A dog only needs to ingest a tablespoon of coolant to get very sick and possibly die. They love the smell of it and will go out of their way to drink it.

 

[1994viper]

I guess this was a one-time event, as the ground was dry today. I also have a ROE fan switch, but it set to run at cool temps therefore the fan is spinning way past the cool point. Its is strange, that if I set the fan not to run before the mid point, my car heats up much more. Basicaly I installed a separate swithch, so I would'nt drain th ebattery. I also have no pets, so there will be no harmed dogs .