Coolant "leak" after touchless car wash, no leak since
02-20-2017, 01:48 PM
#1
VTEC just kicked in, yo!
Thread Starter
Coolant "leak" after touchless car wash, no leak since
On Saturday I went for a touchless car wash at my usual Shell (I've done this before). When I exited, I decided to get out of the car to check how "clean" the touchless wash was this time around. To my surprise, I saw some green liquid between the front fenders and the doors (along the bottom edge). My initial impression was, I didn't notice any green soap being used, and that rinse was terrible. Then I noticed some smoke coming out of the hood.
I popped the hood and noticed smoke coming out of the rail that's connected to the radiator cap. Then immediately after, I noticed some more green liquid splattered on top of my air box. This is definitely coolant. I looked at the coolant reservoir, and it's lower than the "low" line. As I understand, it should reach the "high" line when the car has been warmed up, and should go back down to "low" when the car is cold (i.e., checking it the next morning kind of thing). I could not locate any source of the leak within the engine bay. All hoses/lines appeared to be fine.
So I'm quite a few kilometres away from home, but decided to take a chance. I take the highway and get home in about 30 minutes or so (not much traffic). I pop the hood again, and there's no splattered/leaked coolant. The reservoir level looks the same as when I checked at the gas station. Ok... that must be a "good" thing right? BTW I tried the dealerships after the gas station car wash and by this point, parts were closed so I couldn't get any coolant.
Sunday comes and parts are obviously closed. I decide to drive around because yolo, and still no issues. I hit VTEC once as well lol. Temperature gauge remained the same as Saturday, coolant reservoir level seems the same as well when warmed up, I have no idea what happened.
Could this have been a one off, triggered by a touchless car wash? Anyone heard of this kind of issue? Is there some kind of line or plug underneath the car that might've leaked some coolant during the wash (anything near the transmission?)? I'm thinking about booking an appointment with my mechanic to take a look, but I also cannot reproduce the issue anymore. Thoughts?
Of course, coolant could've leaked before the car wash, and only when the car wash occurred did the liquid started traversing through and out the fenders/doors. But I didn't notice any smoke or green liquid at any point before the car wash. This part is still a bit of a mystery.
I popped the hood and noticed smoke coming out of the rail that's connected to the radiator cap. Then immediately after, I noticed some more green liquid splattered on top of my air box. This is definitely coolant. I looked at the coolant reservoir, and it's lower than the "low" line. As I understand, it should reach the "high" line when the car has been warmed up, and should go back down to "low" when the car is cold (i.e., checking it the next morning kind of thing). I could not locate any source of the leak within the engine bay. All hoses/lines appeared to be fine.
So I'm quite a few kilometres away from home, but decided to take a chance. I take the highway and get home in about 30 minutes or so (not much traffic). I pop the hood again, and there's no splattered/leaked coolant. The reservoir level looks the same as when I checked at the gas station. Ok... that must be a "good" thing right? BTW I tried the dealerships after the gas station car wash and by this point, parts were closed so I couldn't get any coolant.
Sunday comes and parts are obviously closed. I decide to drive around because yolo, and still no issues. I hit VTEC once as well lol. Temperature gauge remained the same as Saturday, coolant reservoir level seems the same as well when warmed up, I have no idea what happened.
Could this have been a one off, triggered by a touchless car wash? Anyone heard of this kind of issue? Is there some kind of line or plug underneath the car that might've leaked some coolant during the wash (anything near the transmission?)? I'm thinking about booking an appointment with my mechanic to take a look, but I also cannot reproduce the issue anymore. Thoughts?
Of course, coolant could've leaked before the car wash, and only when the car wash occurred did the liquid started traversing through and out the fenders/doors. But I didn't notice any smoke or green liquid at any point before the car wash. This part is still a bit of a mystery.
Last edited by xtcnrice; 02-20-2017 at 01:52 PM.
02-20-2017, 02:21 PM
#2
Senior Moderator
Why are you using green coolant instead of blue Honda OEM 
02-20-2017, 02:22 PM
#3
Wild Guess Here:
Did the car wash drying air blow coolant out of your reservoir bottle? That is quite a volume of air directed at the car, maybe it hit just wrong and blew green everywhere. I haven't looked at mine in ages, so I don't know the alignment of the vent hose, etc, but just a thought, not based on reality, experience, or even reading it on the internet.
Did the car wash drying air blow coolant out of your reservoir bottle? That is quite a volume of air directed at the car, maybe it hit just wrong and blew green everywhere. I haven't looked at mine in ages, so I don't know the alignment of the vent hose, etc, but just a thought, not based on reality, experience, or even reading it on the internet.
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xtcnrice (02-20-2017)
02-20-2017, 02:49 PM
#5
VTEC just kicked in, yo!
Thread Starter
Wild Guess Here:
Did the car wash drying air blow coolant out of your reservoir bottle? That is quite a volume of air directed at the car, maybe it hit just wrong and blew green everywhere. I haven't looked at mine in ages, so I don't know the alignment of the vent hose, etc, but just a thought, not based on reality, experience, or even reading it on the internet.
Did the car wash drying air blow coolant out of your reservoir bottle? That is quite a volume of air directed at the car, maybe it hit just wrong and blew green everywhere. I haven't looked at mine in ages, so I don't know the alignment of the vent hose, etc, but just a thought, not based on reality, experience, or even reading it on the internet.
02-20-2017, 02:55 PM
#6
Senior Moderator
Maybe your radiator is leaking somewhere and the forced air is 'dislodging' all that fluid and sprayed it all over your engine. Common failure points include the transmission cooler lines and where the metal/plastic crimps meet.
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xtcnrice (02-20-2017)
02-20-2017, 04:56 PM
#7
VTEC just kicked in, yo!
Thread Starter
Yeah I'm gonna have it diagnosed soon. I'll keep this in mind. I'm hoping it's not a freeze plug that's gone bad, or even worse a crack in the block.
Last edited by xtcnrice; 02-20-2017 at 05:06 PM.
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xtcnrice (03-07-2017)
03-07-2017, 07:32 AM
#9
VTEC just kicked in, yo!
Thread Starter
Yeah forgot about this thread. So, reason why I thought it was coolant was because my coolant level in the reservoir was surprisingly very low as well, to the point where I had concerns.
To my understanding, the coolant level in the reservoir rises when the car is warm (ideally to the MAX line), and it comes back down when cold (i.e., overnight it will ideally go back down to the MIN line). When I checked my car in the morning, I could barely see any coolant in the reservoir (maybe a tiny bit). This led me to think it was the coolant... because it looked like there was nothing left! There was barely any liquid in there for me to even be able to tell what colour it actually was.
The shop I took it to looked for any leaks (not just coolant lines) and he couldn't find anything from front to end. Seems I possibly overreacted to some stupid green soap that might've gotten sprayed out at the end.
But what confused me was the fact that this green liquid had no bubbling (so it wasn't like soap) and I definitely didn't notice any green stuff during the car wash itself. Car just passed 50,000 km.
Anyway, it is what it is. I ended up doing a coolant flush anyway since like I said, my coolant reservoir level was very low. Haven't noticed any issues since, but I haven't gone back to a touchless carwash since. I might try a different touchless carwash this upcoming weekend.
To my understanding, the coolant level in the reservoir rises when the car is warm (ideally to the MAX line), and it comes back down when cold (i.e., overnight it will ideally go back down to the MIN line). When I checked my car in the morning, I could barely see any coolant in the reservoir (maybe a tiny bit). This led me to think it was the coolant... because it looked like there was nothing left! There was barely any liquid in there for me to even be able to tell what colour it actually was.
The shop I took it to looked for any leaks (not just coolant lines) and he couldn't find anything from front to end. Seems I possibly overreacted to some stupid green soap that might've gotten sprayed out at the end.
But what confused me was the fact that this green liquid had no bubbling (so it wasn't like soap) and I definitely didn't notice any green stuff during the car wash itself. Car just passed 50,000 km.Anyway, it is what it is. I ended up doing a coolant flush anyway since like I said, my coolant reservoir level was very low. Haven't noticed any issues since, but I haven't gone back to a touchless carwash since. I might try a different touchless carwash this upcoming weekend.
