casmith

Hi,
I just want to say thank you in advance for any reply to this post.
While driving and sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for 2 hours and running the ac I lost cool air and noticed m temp gauge rising shortly after I noticed a white smoke from the driver's side of the hood. Seemed to be coming from somewhere close to the coolant reservoir. Pulled over and let the car cool down. Refilled the coolant 50/50 mix and 10 minutes into driving white smoke and leaking again. I did notice that although over heating occurred the fan never kicked on. Car is in the shop now as only leaks when it is being driven making it hard to diagnose. Any ideas? Water pump need replaced ? Any thoughts would be helpful. What are the signs of a bad head gasket? Thank you again. CS

beep-beep

close to the coolant reservoir is ... coolant reservoir. It made out of plastic and known to crack with the age. Lucky this is the cheapest and easiest part to replace. Check around it for any wet spots. Sometime it leaks from the orifices where the coolant hose connected to the reservoir. Also the hose clump can be loose or hose can be cracked.

Also it sounds that you have problem with the cooling system. Coolant temperature sensor supposed to show the higher temperature. the fan suppose to kick in. the thermostat supposed to open the passage to the radiator. Something in this chain did not work as expected and has to be fixed.

casmith

Thank you for your reply, just got a call from the shop. You are right it was the coolant reservoir being cracked. I'm getting the car back today, hoping there is no cooling issue. Thank you again!!!

casmith

Hi
I just wanted to say you were right again (unfortunately for me :-( ) The fan control module has gone bad, fans aren't receiving the signal to turn on. My question is, do you recommend any sites for parts? Dealer wants $450 for the FCM which seems outrageous to me and then another $350 for the fan unit itself. Any help would be great. Thank you. CS.