help! coolant leak! (with photo) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

its_snowing · #1 12-02-2006, 04:10 PM

drat. i just got back from a longish drive, onyl to find that, after i parked the car and came back to it, that im leaking coolant, and fast. the level in the tank still looks good, so it may have just started.

im new to this - dont have my terminology down. its coming from something that looks like the oil pan, and it leaking out of the side of that. in the photo, the camera is looking up from the bottom of the car, from the passenger side. this is in the middle of the car, just behing the firewall area, and behind the exhaust pipe leading the back of the car. it is dripping out of something that looks like its supposed to be sealed.

my inexperience is preventing me from describing this properly, but maby the photo will help. whats going on here?

its_snowing · #2 12-02-2006, 04:17 PM

ps. that is NOT the oil pan, by the way, its just the best way i could describe what it looks like.

Biodiesel300TD · #3 12-02-2006, 04:18 PM

That is your transmission fluid pan in the picture. Your leak is most likely comming from a heater hose on the firewall in the engine bay, and the coolant is leaking down to where you are seeing it. Open the hood and look at the heater hoses and monovalve on the firewall. Or try following each hose from the radiator to locate the leak. I wouldn't drive untill you find the leak, you don't want to loose all your coolant, or the repairs get REALLY expensive. Once you find the likely leaky spot wipe everything down and see if you can find exctly where the drips are comming out.

its_snowing · #4 12-02-2006, 04:26 PM

thanks!

however, i had already checked the hoses around the monovalve area, and could see anything obviously leaking. the whole are is dry. the leak would seem to be coming from somewhere underneath. strangely, it now seems to have stopped, and it appears that the leak was strongest right after i shut the car down, and has now fizzled more or less out.

Biodiesel300TD · #5 12-02-2006, 06:01 PM

Wipe everything down and keep an eye on it. If may have sealed its self for now, but I'm sure it will come back.

Brian Carlton · #6 12-02-2006, 06:08 PM

Check the area around the monovalve again and be sure that it's fully dry.

Then, check the overflow line that comes off the expansion tank. It's possible that this line let some coolant out, if the tank was overfilled, and it can end up anywere on the bottom of the vehicle.

If neither of the above are the culprits, you are looking at a leak in the heater core.........something that you really don't want to know...........

vstech · #7 12-02-2006, 06:14 PM

if you have not been driving the car, the heat and pressure has gone down, so that is mostlikely why the leak fizzled down. you can get a pressure pump up kit from autozone, pump up the pressure to 10 or so and then look for where the leak is.
John