Water under the truck

2.4l 4 2002. noticed coolant leak from passenger side on my carport floor so opened hood. havent done any long trips, just short stuff but temps have been cold recently. saw coolant leak from what looks like the cap area, running down to passenger side and down. The radiator is brand new! replaced like 1 year ago. also used a new cap on it. temps are fine as far as my gauge and my scangauge say. I have to get it smogged next week and have a xmas trip to socal so i'll carry some coolant with me just in case. My coolant reservoir is pretty dirty. do i need to clean it? I added a little to it halfway. No consistent leak though that I can tell.

 

Maybe its just a leaky cap, maybe something worse. I would give it a real good inspection before your road trip. Don't want to ruin the holiday stuck on the side of the freeway with a blown radiator or worse.

Check coolant level when cold, fill reservoir to FULL.

 

Might be the hose between the cap and reservoir. It should have double ring clamps at each end, screw type hose clamps are less effective on small diameter hoses.

 

after inspection, i think its the cap. new cap but its one of those semi-square ones with the red flip tab, which seems to catch on the side a little so i'm going to go back to the standard type. overflow hoses are clear but i might as well replace those too. $5.

 

OEM cap, forget those aftermarket caps.

for tracking it back to the cap.

 

Pay attention to what psi the radiator pressure cap. Replace with the same psi pressure cap.


You have a closed system so don't overfill with engine coolant.

Your engine's coolant system is designed to be pressurized to raise the boiling point.