I have a V6 1994 3.4L automatic

I got in my car and went to the grocery store yesterday. While heading in that direction, I could smell anitfreeze burning but I thought it was the car in front of me. My temperature gauge never went above normal on the whole trip there and back. Well when I parked, I decided to look and see if I was leaking. Sure enough, I was. It was just a puddle of coolant under the engine, nowhere near the radiator, about midway under my engine. I went inside and bought some antifreeze. When I can out, there was a river of it under my car. I needed to get home since I only lived 2 miles away, so I filled it up with coolant and drove home. When I got home however, my car wasn't leaking. Not even a drop. I drove it this morning to class, and no dripping. Can anyone tell me what happened?!? This is the weirdest thing I've ever encountered. I checked the coolant last night and this morning and levels are perfect in the radiator and reservoir.

Oh and I'm sure it was coolant. I recognize the green, awful smelling stuff when I see it. I didn't have my air on or anything like that either.

 

How low was your antifreeze when you had to add??...
Purhaps the overflow tank.. Idk, some people put things like stopleak or pepper in wit their antifreeze. Purhaps it broke loss an then repatched itself again...
Neway about it, if there was a leak in the system an it wasnt the overflow tank or near it your likely to see the leak come back when the system builds presure........ Id keep a eye on it ;-)

 

Timing covers on this engine are prone to leaking, also when your water pump is about to take a pootie on you it will leak out of the weep hole. Make sure you check over your engine really good, just a few minutes of lost coolant to the heads can kill them.

Massey

 

well so far, I have only driven it to class. i will try to keep an eye on it. I was also driving kind of careful so maybe me not reeving the engine up kept the pressure down? It literally was the first time this has happened. i check my fluids every time i fill up so it hasn't been an ongoing problem. I put about a half a gallon in the system. i kind of was just wondering of anything I should look out for to prevent any serious damage. If it was running really low on coolant, wouldn't my temperature gauge go up? Also, wouldn't it only hurt the heads if it started to overheat?

 

Anytime a system can not hold pressure the coolant will boil inside the motor at “hot spots” like in the head. The boiling cause gases to be trapped in the head. That means no coolant can get to the hot spots. This can cause metal to grow and damage head gaskets and crack heads long before it shows up on your temp gage.
You need to do a pressure test of your system. Borrow a pressure tester from autozone and head over to youtube and search for pressure testing coolant system for a quick how too video.

Good luck.

 

Coolant only goes through the timing cover when the thermostat is open. I had the same issue when my timing cover was leaking. If I didn't drive it long or far there was no leak. But, if I drove it long enough to heat up and have the thermostat open then the timing cover leaked. It could also be your lower rad hose not connected properly or leaking. Check that too. If the timing cover is leaking, it's more on the passenger side behind the power steering pump.

 

I dont necessarily think this is your problem but I have a 95 and when I bought it the guy said it kept leaking coolant but even the radiator shop couldn't determine problem. So I took it to a guy here that has been in business for years and he kept it for several hours. It held pressure fine and never leaked a drop with him. Turned out that mine was leaking at the radiator cap and it wasn't letting it pressurize right. Ever since he put new cap on it, it hasnt had to have any added to it.

 

I'm gonna go get a pressure tester soon. If the head gaskets are messed up, wouldn't there be coolant in my oil?

Budsysmith- it's definitely not the cap. When it did leak I saw it dripping from under the engine, on the passenger side towards the front

 

Was hoping it was an easy fix. This went on for a month with mine and we thought it had a cracked head. I had the oil changed and religiously monitored that oil!

 

Haha I wish it was that easy.

Oh I just checked the oil, and it was perfect. Once again, no leaks under the car