I was driving to work this morning as usual. I come to a full stop at a red light and see smoke coming from my front driver side fender well and up over my hood. First thought was possibly brakes locking up and getting to hot, next thought was wheel bearings seizing. I kept driving though and nothing sounded like brakes grabbing or bearings grinding. I kept on my way to work but didn't see anymore smoke. I kept an eye on all the temp and oil pressure gauges just to be safe anyways.

It took about 10 more minutes to get to work where I parked and got out to take a look. I could see coolant sprayed all inside my driver side front fender well. That explained the smoke. I popped the hood during my lunch break and there was coolant sprayed onto the battery, and pretty much everywhere in that area. My radiator hoses look brand new, and they felt fine. No bulging anywhere. I can only think that pressure built up above 18psi for some odd reason and blew the fluid through the cap.

Is this even possible? I only ever knew the spring in the cap to compress enough to let the fluid drain to the overflow tube. Has anyone else had anything similar to this happen to them, or know what would cause this?

What is even weirder is that it was perfectly fine on my drive back home, on my drive to take my 2-month old to the doctor, and then back home again. No signs of radiator fluid after all of that driving, just the one instance this morning.

I'd be more than happy to hear what anyone thinks.

 

What about your T-stat sticking? If it sticks, the coolant could blow out of where the outlet hose meets the radiator, regardless of if the hose is in good shape an the clamp is fine. Pressure builds up and that could happen.

Just leave your hood open when you have time and let your engine warm up to operating temperature. If the T-stat sticks or opens up late, you will know it lol.

Thats my guess.