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Codes, then Gas smell, and now disappearing/exploding coolant
Oooookeydokey. So a short chain of potentially related or unrelated events over the last year.
About a year back i did a coolant drain and fill. It had a good long time to vent any air pockets, etc. A bit after that I went and did a high powered but short drive up part of a mountain, gaining probably 4-5000 feet in 5 minutes. I'm guessing I did still have some air in, and it boiled a lot of my coolant right out and just left a huge puddle of coolant from overflowing. I let it cool down, topped it off, and it's been stable for a year since. No overheating, no low coolant levels, etc. though it took a while to not smell the burning coolant splashed on my engine from the mentioned event.
I did pop a P2422 code a number of months back, and was starting to get the occasional wif of gas during operation. I've had to replace the evap purge valve a while back, but went with the fuel filler cap first. Switching it to a new straight from the bag cap....the smell is much worse. I'm going to swap back to original and see what effect. I have done no other diagnostics yet (insane heat waves going on, and not lots of driving), but no performance changes, though I had a couple rocky idling starts a while back, but haven't felt that in months. AC function is good.
This week I smelled some burning coolant, so I open the engine and there's a lot more splashed around the engine bay from the resevoir, and the resevoir is 95% empty. I topped it off last night, with it cool, I put it halfway between min and max. I do 15 minutes of driving today, check it, and the resevoir is halfway from minimum to empty. There are no leaks showing up in my parking place at home, or anywhere else. No condensation inside the cabin, no loss of AC function, no coolant smell inside, no notable water coming out the exhaust pipe. No obvious leaks during engine running I can see without removing any parts.
I'm waiting for the heat to hopefully die down in a couple weeks for both regular service and some diagnostic work, but was hoping some of you had some ideas for me to start with, in addition to my existing plans.
check both caps, radiator cap and the overflow cap. over time the overflow cap can get brittle from the heat cycles...and overtime the radiator cap's seal can weaken.
check all hoses. even tho, there isnt anything dripping, a rubber hose could be weakened enough around the clamps...speaking of clamps, make sure you have the correct clamps....it should never be the screw on clamps...always use the tension clamps for radiator hoses.
I'll take a look at all these parts in the next few days. I haven't noticed any detereoration of these parts, including while having the hose off and out, and removing/attaching the tension clamp, buuuuuut to say the least it's a good time for a closer inspection of these parts. If I can't tell if it needs replacing, might as well replace it.
There's spray marks on the top of the engine. Mostly likely from the caps. Usually the reservoir cap cracks, mainly due to age or the rad cap being faulty. The small hose to the reservoir can also leak coolant.
I would agree with the suggestions already mentioned in the thread. I had a similar issue with coolant spraying onto the engine bay and it was the overflow cap. It broke on the plastic elbow section of the cap where the hose connects to it. Easy fix.
Yeah, I'm definitely leaning this way now that I've had a moment to inspect the spray more closely, and it's looking like it's coming from the overflow cap. Going to inspect it directly tomorrow, order a replacement, and more coolant to keep on hand as needed. If I need to do more..we'll find out soon probably. I've been waiting for the heat wave to die down so I can spend more time doing some work on a number of issues, so I'm a bit remiss while temps are hitting 115...oof.
You can get a new overflow cap for a few bux, it's very common for it to crack where it threads onto the plastic bottle. I've had to replace both on my TL's.
You can get a new overflow cap for a few bux, it's very common for it to crack where it threads onto the plastic bottle. I've had to replace both on my TL's.
Yup, I get a new overflow cap in tomorrow. The coolant level seems to be holding stable at the moment, but we'll replace the cap and after a day or two, try a more spirited drive and see how it holds.
