Weird thing happened to me yesterday!

[Ratical2]

I drove my car to work thru a slower than normal rush hour traffic. Parked the car and all was well. Went into the office and 10 minutes later I get a call from one of my co-workers that I have a huge coolant lake under my car. Oh Joy!

I go outside and find that a large portion of the fluid is indeed outside of the car instead of inside where it belongs.

The only thing that I could find was the coolant recovery cap was loose. It somehow had backed off during the drive to work, quite possibly due to all of the speedbumps in the parking lot.

I am guessing that with increase of engine temp after shut down and the loss of system pressure, the coolant boiled over and burped approximately a gallon of fluid on the pavement.

And so begins a long day of voice messages, emails, calls from security and so on from people letting me know my car has a problem. I even found a note on the windshield to "check my coolant". I am glad I have so many friends looking out for me.
However, one of the German dudes pulled up in his BMW (never met him only seen him around) and said that's what I get for buying American. He refused to meet me at the track....

Had a friend drive me to the auto parts store for new coolant. I filled the upper recovery tank and burped the system as best as I could. I drove it 20 miles, 35 minutes home and after a short cool down, burped and topped off the upper recover tank and filled the lower one.

Question: Has anyone had this happen before?

 

[Martin]

Definitely figure out where the coolant was coming from... As you know, there are some rather painless things that could have happened, and there are some painful ones. I've personally never had the coolant overflow from normal driving, but with a 13 year old car, things can happen...

 

[2snakes4us]

quite possibly due to all of the speedbumps in the parking lot.

Speedbumps I never can get them.

 

[RTTTTed]

Good luck and your logic seems OK to me.

Put a note on the BMW that his car was only 50% of what he paid for it since the other 50% was IMPORT TAXES. Maybe find the MSRP and write the actaul amount he paid for his BMW. Then write the cost of the Domnestic Viper that has NO Import Taxes (except for the Mexican and Cdn parts) and show him the value of buyin cheapo German cars?

I really hate to insult a German's IQ, but if he's busy displaying stupidity, might as well point out that he looks smarter when he is quiet.

I normally wouldn't be insulting, but when other people are disdainful and insulting, they're usually the easiest to find insults for.

I mean is it British Machine Works, of Bavarian Machine Works? GMW? lol

Ted

 

[AZTVR]

Make sure that the coolant tank in the fascia is filled to the proper level. It is common to poke one of the screws holding the fascia on into the bottom of the bottle. I don't know if it specifically takes a speed bump hit to do that or whether it is so close on some cars that it can just wear through over time.

 

[Martin]

Good luck and your logic seems OK to me.

Put a note on the BMW that his car was only 50% of what he paid for it since the other 50% was IMPORT TAXES. Maybe find the MSRP and write the actaul amount he paid for his BMW. Then write the cost of the Domnestic Viper that has NO Import Taxes (except for the Mexican and Cdn parts) and show him the value of buyin cheapo German cars?

I really hate to insult a German's IQ, but if he's busy displaying stupidity, might as well point out that he looks smarter when he is quiet.

I normally wouldn't be insulting, but when other people are disdainful and insulting, they're usually the easiest to find insults for.

I mean is it British Machine Works, of Bavarian Machine Works? GMW? lol

Ted

That's funny My dad gave me all kinds of $hit when I bought my "Wiper" because in his eyes, anything but a German car was a piece of crap. Gotta remember that Germans are a proud people, and they do have some damn good engineering DNA. But, when it comes to producing a car that makes you wet your pants every once in a while, and grabs the attention of anyone who is within eyeshot of it, there's just something missing in the German cars. The BMW M1 was one of the only BMW's that really 'did it' for me - and unfortunately that car was a really poor performer compared to its styling. I wouldn't mind having a V10 R8 - as long as I could get a million-year warranty for it... Ever see how they get the engine into that car? They basically start with the engine and then build the back half of the car around it. I'd hate to have to R&R that...

 

[crazyspeed]

That's hilarious as BMW"s are notorious for leaking radiators and exploding plastic resevoirs....as anyone knows who has owned one and/or spent any time on the Beemer forums

Crazy

I drove my car to work thru a slower than normal rush hour traffic. Parked the car and all was well. Went into the office and 10 minutes later I get a call from one of my co-workers that I have a huge coolant lake under my car. Oh Joy!

I go outside and find that a large portion of the fluid is indeed outside of the car instead of inside where it belongs.

The only thing that I could find was the coolant recovery cap was loose. It somehow had backed off during the drive to work, quite possibly due to all of the speedbumps in the parking lot.

I am guessing that with increase of engine temp after shut down and the loss of system pressure, the coolant boiled over and burped approximately a gallon of fluid on the pavement.

And so begins a long day of voice messages, emails, calls from security and so on from people letting me know my car has a problem. I even found a note on the windshield to "check my coolant". I am glad I have so many friends looking out for me.
However, one of the German dudes pulled up in his BMW (never met him only seen him around) and said that's what I get for buying American. He refused to meet me at the track....

Had a friend drive me to the auto parts store for new coolant. I filled the upper recovery tank and burped the system as best as I could. I drove it 20 miles, 35 minutes home and after a short cool down, burped and topped off the upper recover tank and filled the lower one.

Question: Has anyone had this happen before?

 

[uvbnbit]

That's hilarious as BMW"s are notorious for leaking radiators and exploding plastic resevoirs....as anyone knows who has owned one and/or spent any time on the Beemer forums

Crazy

Don't forget the soaking wet carpet from the leaking vapor barriers!!

 

[steve911]

Even to this day, I hear over and over again, never own a Bimmer WITHOUT a warranty.

Steve A.

 

[RTTTTed]

Sorry guys,

I've always been power hungry. BMW, MG, Citroen, Mazda, Toyota, Subaru, etc. never made anything that was exceptionally well powered. I'm not on a list and couldn't afford a Veyron so I didn't even look at them. Hemi was alwasy exceptional and my 440s never had any trouble being supreme anywhere I went (money races included). I never once raced any of the above brands that were within 50 car lengths of a 3200# powered by a 440.

Whenever someone says BMW I think of the Simca my Dad almost bought for my Mother. When someone says Mercedes I think of the 6 cyl (190hp?)diesels that they made in the 70s. Ferraris were about 300hp in the seventies and 80s? 92 Spirit R/T 2.2 with Lotus DOHC was listed as "world's fastest 4 door sedan" in the early 90s. Caroll Shelby was always considered to be the WINNER and I don't recall him ever driving a euro - that won anything.

I realize that times have changed, but until TC and other nannies actually make the car faster instead of slower, I won't be looking at any vettes, Ferraris or Lambos.

As long as the Gen 2 GTS can produce an easy 600rwhp700bhp for an extra $8,000 that's MY BABY. I couldn't care less about the $15,000 goat skin leather wrapped dash of the carbon fiber console.

OH NO, I'm rambling

 

[Steve-Indy]

Not sure why pressure tank's cap was loose. Pay CLOSE attention to the level in the pressure tank under the hood AND to the level (hot and cold) in the overflow bottle in the fascia.

No matter what, spend the money on a new "radiator" cap for the pressure tank.

 

[GTS1997]

I had a similar problem on my Viper with a coolant leak. The culprit was a SLIGHTLY loose radiator cap. About 1/16 - 1/8 of a turn. When I checked to see if the cap was loose, I could only tighten it that much. But, that was the problem.... No more leaks after that. I was surprised at how slight of a twist it needed. But there was some coolant at the top of the nozzle, just below the cap, so I figured that might be the problem. Once I tightened it as much as it could go....no more leaks.

So, that might be the problem. Tighten as tight as you can by hand....put some muscle behind it.

 

[Ratical2]

Thanks everyone for your inputs, so I got home yesterday without further incident. This morning no fluid on the ground. I checked that the coolant tank lid was on tight. I went to the gas station and checked again while filling up. I drove to work as normal and the temp gauge was reading the normal temps. I parked the car and no problems. No new puddles at the end of the day when I got back into the car. So the problem appears to solved.
I was thinking back and a week ago or so, I topped off the lower tank and removed the lid. I am guessing that I didn't truly cinch the lid down far enough and it eventually vibrated loose. Honestly, outside of home it was the best place that could have happened.

So now I have one more thing to routinely check.....

Thanks again everyone!

 

[1994viper]

That dude should have seen me 3 years ago with my leaky Bimmer. Even the stealership couldn't detect a problem. That thing used to leak from a pin size hole in a hose ½ gallon of coolant at will.

My Viper also did a similar coolant dump last year as you describe. Topped it up and all was fine till recently my radiator bursed. Finally it was the time to recore the old rasted and leaky rad. Added an extra row as well.

 

[Roffle Waffle]

That's hilarious as BMW"s are notorious for leaking radiators and exploding plastic resevoirs....as anyone knows who has owned one and/or spent any time on the Beemer forums

Crazy

I was just gonna say that. hahahaha. the e36 are coolant nightmares, with their cracked reservoir tanks, plastic water pumps, and pretty much everything else always leaking and cracking. not much better on the rest of them. I've owned a 332ti and a z4, so I know.