Hello everyone, came here once a few years ago and learned how to change my own headlights thanks to the info here. Anyway yesterday my check guages light came on and I noticed my temp starting to creep up. Was 5 mins from home so kept going. Pulled into driveway and stopped car, could hear a hissing sound coming from radiator area, popped hood and saw a bunch of fluid then coming from under car. I checked coolant reservior and it was bone dry. I put in 2 containers of coolant and drove around neighborhood to see if the leak would happen again and nothing. Do I need to get to shop asap or just monitor fluid level?

 

if you have a/c on the back,then check your auxiliary water pump (inside hood, under windshield on passenger side), maybe is broken but sometimes only leaks when hot,first check when cold all your hoses for cracks ,open radiator and check coolant if its clean or have changed color , if theres oil , etc, you dont say what engine you have , if 4.7 check thermostat housing, if the gasket is broken there could be a big leak first check all cold and open radiator , then close everything and start engine and wait to reach optimal temp , at this point dont open anything, just look for leaks on pumps but just on sight , dont touch or move anythign or could get burnt or hurt by radiator fan, if all is ok at this point , chek level everyday , when cold before start it should be on cold level , and when hot on hot level, if it keeps going down it could be a bad radiator cap , or blown gasket ,remember to use gloves when cheking all this , coolant is extremly toxic dont touch your mouth or nose when working with coolant, hope this helps

 

ok sry to hijack but the auxilary water pump thing i know my truck gets a/c in the back and occasionally i will hear something dripping onto the exhaust after i stop running the truck i know its coming from the passenger side but beyond all that i have no idea. 4.7 d with almost 250k on her