I have a 2010 Caravan with the 3.8L. She has 51,500 miles on her. On my home from work today I smelled coolant. I kept an eye on the temp gauge and she didn't get any warmer than usual, about mid way on the gauge. No warning lights came on and she didn't loose power, stutter, hesitate or any thing out of the ordinary.
From there to home is 20 miles. When I pulled in the drive she was steaming pretty good. When I opened the hood, there was coolant everywhere! It looked like she threw up coolant. It was on everything and the insulation under the hood is soaked with it. You would think I took a hose and sprayed coolant everywhere.
I inspected everywhere I could think and saw no broke clamps or hoses. The reservoir is empty and I can stick my finger in the radiator neck and not feel any coolant. The radiator cap was on tight and the reservoir cap was firmly closed.
I'm at a loss.

 

Refill it with the correct coolant/water water mix and let it run in your driveway. All looks good? Let it cool and check the coolant level. If it's down you may have a bad head gasket. Sometimes but not always you may see vapor out the tail pipe. To prove it connect a pressure tester (free sign out from many parts stores) and watch for a decrease in pressure on the gauge. You may have a leak but it could also have been a boil over shooting fluid out the overflow port on the coolant reservoir. In that case you could have a bad thermostat, pump, or clogged radiator. Don't forget to check the heater hoses.

 

I vote for a water pump shaft seal. It's not an obvious leak but if it get worse you'll see puddles. Have a garage do a cold pressure test. Inexpensive, quick and you'll find the leak really quickly

 

Look just above the crossover pipe, there is a plastic wye in the heater hose, chances are it is cracked. It is a VERY common problem with a simple DIY fix or an expensive dealer fix if you choose.

See the following thread for details: 2008 Grand Caravan coolant leak

George

 

I had two issues going on. One wound up to be the "Y" and a bad radiator cap letting coolant bubble out. $25 in parts and $26 in the proper coolant, we are good to go.

 

Good call georgef!

 

I did this repair and I have 2 points: 1) The problem appears to be the proximity to the exhaust manifold and when you remove the broken Y fitting don't waste time trying to cut the collars off, just cut the hose behind the collars. then when you add your hose off the block, make it a few inches longer (at least) to get it away from the block. The added length of hose coming off the block more than compensates for the hose length lost with just cutting the Y connector off past the collars. 2) be careful with using metal tees as the use of plastic was for dissimular metals corrosion in the coolant system. Hope this helps

 

Leaking heater Y should have been made like this.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/301580191576

 

You don't test coolant systems idling... You can drive one half a mile with no cooling system at all from a cold start before the gauge even gets 3/4.. I know first hand. I've seen 'experts' who flip cars make this mistake too and the buyer doesn't even see it in a test drive.

labor and part prices for machine work or ordered heads or even a new engine(if mid-block warps) typically cost another van..

warped head, blown head gasket, bad cap, blown water pump, bad hose, loose or cracked thermostat.. I think there are cases where it can get through valve seals and flow out too when there is a blown gasket or warped head.