Today I drove about 45 minutes and when I stopped, I saw smoke coming out from under the hood. So I popped the hood and noticed brown liquid all over the hood and fender. Under the hood, it was all over the battery and intake. Its engine coolant, so I filled it up with new fluid, both the radiator and reserve. Almost the whole jug went into the car. About 3 hours later and about 35 minutes of driving, same thing happened all over. Smoke coming from the hood and fluid all over the engine. The reserve is empty. What's goin on??? I'm in maryland right now and on monday I have to drive up to rochester ny!!!! Any thoughts on what's going on????????????????

 

Check the T-stat, it might fail and not open up when temperature reaches 78°C

 

seems like a leak somewhere rather than the coolant burning up... if it was getting burned up inside the engine, you wouldn't see it on the engine itself.. check for leaks..

 

its gotta be a leak. or maybe the radiator cap is loose

 

How can I check?? Could it be I need a new water pump? 94K and its never been replaced??

 

If you're seeing coolant all over the engine, then you have a leak. It could be a busted hose or something. You need to find out where it is.

Park the car and let it idle. Look underneath the car after a while and see if there's coolant on the ground. Then inspect that part of the engine bay thoroughly for the leak.

 

I have to agree with Pure Adrenaline just start the car an let it run an watch for coolant to shoot out of leak roses. After that you may have to change out coolant, B/c after you take out that hose you will be losing allot coolant an wait until it cool down.

 

look in the back of the manual but i'd guess the car take more than just a jug of coolant. but ya, you can fill it up with distilled water since its alot cheaper and let it run for a bit and see where its leakin

 

Check for a leak in the system...I'm suspecting a hose.

At 94K, your radiator cap doesn't owe you a dime. It could very well be a bad radiator cap that is not holding its pressure.

Also, when topping up, it is very important to use a 50/50 mixture only. Don't use pure antifreeze/coolant, as it will do damage to the system. In a emergency, use plain water. Grab yourself two jugs of Supertech Ext. Life Concentrate and two jugs of distilled water from Walmart. Together, this will run you about $20. Mix them in a bucket, and pour them all back into their containers. Keep them in your trunk, and keep topping-up until you can get home.

Hope this helps.

 

^^ good advice.