Hi all,

I saw white smoke this morning coming out thru the grill on the tail lid, first I thought it was evaporation from the recent super high humidity, but the smoke won't stop after 5 mins.

Shut down the car, open the engine bay, it looks wet which seems to the condensation from smoke/steam. Then I saw something dripping just behind the real bumper area (centre towards to the left a bit). It looks like coolant but I'm not 100% sure.

I've recently swapped the engine mount, only took out the air box and re-installed it. May be some pipes I mistakenly broke / disconnected while taking out / putting back in the air box?

Just a quick check for advise here before I get it towed to the workshop.

Thanks!

 

Definitely sounds like a coolant leak being white in smoke!

 

Looking very likely, coolant level dropped below min level. And looks like the leak is from below the engine bay.

 

Get a white rag or paper towel. You need to determine the 'wetness'. If it's pink, then coolant.

Don't discount the AOS. Hopefully it's just this unit. How many miles on the car?

 

Check the coolant tank... Cracks

 

Confirmed it's the water pump that failed. It's been replaced and the car is back on the road now.

Thanks guys.

 

How many miles and what year is your car? I'm glad you found the problem before causing any damages.

 

In addition to the mileage, did you also have pre-death symptoms: leak on the floor, noise, etc.

Just asking to help out others.

I plan on replacing mine every 40k or so. And yes, some will say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Me? "Peace of mine and not waiting for AAA is worth the preventive maintenance"

 

2006 C2S, exactly 59999KM. Symptoms included white smoke coming from the lid (easily seen from rear view window when the car is still, very hard to notice when running); a very small and inconsistent cracking noise from the engine bay, which confirmed to be coming from the failed pump (I'll try to shoot a video of it).

 

I actually had this planned for DIY next month as a preventive job since I heard it's a very common problem on, but it failed just a couple of weeks before I had the chance. Total cost was 3 times the cost of the parts.

Part should have been about US$300, I paid about US$1k total with gasket, coolant.. etc.

 

37,000 miles is low life-span though I think a few did encounter this low service life. Your 38k-service-life matches my self-made schedule.

For me, I had the intermittent noise so I replaced it before it failed (along with the low thermostat).

Glad to hear your back on the road.

 

I am not sure if the pink coolant is as bad as the green coolant to paint, etc.

For $1k, did they wash the internal/engine bay? Can you tell? Just wondering!

Again, I really don't want coolant all over the engine, hoses, etc when it fails; thus, my preventive mtce.

 

I just have a feeling that the lifetime coolant isn't so lifetime..not so much miles but how old car is..i posted pics of lifetime coolant after 28K and 8 years old...night and day.. new coolant pink,,old coolant wine red and smelled nappy....

 

Hmmmm? Mine started as a 2007 with 12,000 miles. Today, the coolant is as pink as what's coming from the gallon of coolant I bought when I added the 3rd radiator.

As for lifetime, I may change the coolant at 100,000. I am at 70,000.

 

There were some coolant splashes in the engine bay, but not too bad. And yes they cleaned up the engine bay as well.

Whether coolant is "life time" doesn't matter to me because there's always some maintenance / replacement work (worn out hose, radiator leak... etc) that will require coolant to be replaced as well.