Need help. Engine overheating/coolant leak

[Hedsic]

*****, I was getting my son so I'm about 30 miles from home. Noticed my engine temp was all the maxed hot. No CEL. No smoke. I stopped and looked. I have coolant coming out from the grin somewhere. It's all over belts in the front but no-where else. I can't pinpoint where it's leaking from.

***** because its hot and I'm stuck with my 5 year old, can't reach anyone I know. Does anyone know a temp thing that can be done to inch my way home without killing my engine?

I have no clue what to do.


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[Leeann]

Only thing I know is to put water in the reservoir, go a bit, put more water in the reservoir...

Especially if you can't tell where it's coming from. The belt doesn't help because it slings it and the fan then blows it absolutely everywhere, masking its origin.

 

[yellocoyote]

What Leeann said.

Also, it sounds like it may be your water pump that crapped out.

 

[JeepJeepster]

Make sure it topped off and see if it cools down. If its on the belt its most likely a bad water pump or cracked radiator. Either should allow you to limp home if its full of water/antifreeze.

 

[Hedsic]

Thank you so much. Was able to limp it home put some coolant in it. Get home and nothing was leaking. I was thinking the water pump as well.


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[Luke]

Phew ... Everything is more tense... when you throw a 5 yr old in the mix!

Glad you made it and hope the overheating was not too bad.

 

[Hedsic]

Yeah that is why I was freaking out. Obviously my first reaction was to call everyone in my phone list but no-one was answering. Called my roadside assistance and they wouldn't go that far. They would only tow a max of 5 miles. Spent about an hour waiting on someone to return my call while searching to see if I could pinpoint where it was coming from. There was gurgling sound coming from the water pump area where the pully is. That area is soaked but the fan is untouched with coolant.
That was when I decided to get on here to see what I could do to limp home. I wanted to just pour some water in it and keep doing that while I inched home but I didn't want to cause damage by doing it. Specially if it's just from a simple water pump I'd hate to cause a more expensive problem.

So again thank you all for the help. Sorry about the first panic post. Probably a bit of an overreaction on my part.

I'm going to replace the water pump today. O'reily's had in stock for like $40 new so not a break the bank part thank god. I hope it's a job not beyond what I am able to do. We will see.

 

[Hedsic]

so weird. I can't get the issue to happen again. Had a friend follow me after I filled it back up with coolant to heat it up, nothing. Let it run with the AC on for 2 hours and nothing. Had my friend follow me and got on the interstate to put some load on and still nothing. not so much as a drop of coolant anywhere since I filled it all back up.

I was thinking Water Pump but wanted to see if I could recreate what happened before bu to get an idea of where the leak could be coming from.

Is it possible that it was just super low on coolant and overheated from that causing coolant to come out? I've only had it for 6 months so I never checked the coolant assuming it was filled up when I got it and didn't think of it much.

 

[Leeann]

I'm guessing the water pump is going but not yet gone and you got coolant out of the weep hole. I'd still replace the pump.

 

[Hedsic]

Sounds like that is where I'll be starting tonight. I watched a 5 part video on youtube and read the how to on here and it seems like a fairly simple job. Thank you so much Leeann for all your help.

 

[Leeann]

No problem - glad I could.

 

[Hedsic]

That was a really simple install.


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[Luke]

That was the first repair I ever had to do ... nice way to ease into the KJ

 

[Hedsic]

My first repair was the drive shaft. That was pretty simple too. Way easier to work on then the damn Mazda 6 I had that's for sure. More room to move around to get to stuff.


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[twack]

water pumps and radiators have a tendency to fail on liberties, the radiators are the worst!

 

[TheBlueKJ]

Thankfully my uncle had the cooling system serviced before I got it!