Engine Steaming

As I pulled in the driveway last night I noticed steam coming from the engine. I popped the hood and there was coolant all over the left side of the engine bay. The resevoir was nearly completely empty. The last 2 weeks we have had consistent days of 100+ degree heat, which is not typical for this area. The temp guage however has only been running at just a little above 210. Any ideas what this might be?

Look at the side tank on the radiator, the area around the thermostat housing, and the side of the head. Try cleaning all the stuff off then running it in the driveway until it reaches operating temperature, you may be able to spot the problem then.

edit: check your cap out while it's cold as well...

I see by your profile that you're atalking about an '88 so you have the closed system with a pressure bottle as opposed to an overflow. The bottle and/or connection is likely your issue.

Check your coolant pressure bottle and hose connections for leaks, cracks, the cap (as said before), the hoses into your heater core. If it's on the left it's all about the hoses and the bottle. The bottles are prone to failure and need replacing. I suggest OEM from a dealer. More money, but most of the e-bay or cheap-o aftermarkets will last you about a year.

If your system has air in it, do a search for bleeding the air.

yep, it's probably the bottle, and it's probably that the neck has warped and the cap isn't sealing, so it sprays over everything.

New crown auto bottle and cap is about $20.

Actually, it's a 99 that I've had for about a year. I sold my 88 a year ago. I've been meaning to change the name but I haven't yet...

I would check all of those hoses. Good Luck

88XjLaredo said:

Actually, it's a 99 that I've had for about a year. I sold my 88 a year ago. I've been meaning to change the name but I haven't yet...

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the only thing I can think of in that area of a 99 would be the heater valve.

87manche said:

the only thing I can think of in that area of a 99 would be the heater valve.

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X2 on the heater valve. It's the black plastic doo-dad that ties the hoses together. The diaphragm in those goes bad and spews.