2001 C320 coolant leak
11-27-2017, 03:50 PM
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2001 C320 coolant leak
Area behind wheel well where coolant leak is coming from (hose pointing straight down).
Closer view of hose where coolant is leaking
A few days ago I was driving home when I noticed the smell of coolant in the AC. About 15 seconds after that, smoke started to come out of the AC vents. 30-45 seconds after that I got the notification on the dash “check coolant level” or something along those lines. I opened the windows to let the smoke out of the cabin and I then turned on the heater and put it on full blast to try to take heat away from the engine. No heat was coming out of the vents. Only cold air was coming out, despite having the setting on max heat. The engine temp got close to 100 Celcius but it never touched 100. I was able to make it home (probably because the fan (in engine compartment infrint of radiator) was working on full blast regardless of AC on or off. When I got home I checked for the area of coolant leak and behind the plastic wheel well liner ther was a weird hose of some sort. It is directly behind the driver side front tire (Left hand steering). I filled the coolant reservoir with water to see how fast the leak was, an even without the car on it would leak pretty quickly. With the car in it would take about 30 seconds to drain the reservoir completely dry. Attached you will see the place where the leak is coming from. If anyone could help me, it would be greatly appreciated.
11-27-2017, 05:09 PM
#2
Closer view of hose where coolant is leaking
A few days ago I was driving home when I noticed the smell of coolant in the AC. About 15 seconds after that, smoke started to come out of the AC vents. 30-45 seconds after that I got the notification on the dash “check coolant level” or something along those lines. I opened the windows to let the smoke out of the cabin and I then turned on the heater and put it on full blast to try to take heat away from the engine. No heat was coming out of the vents. Only cold air was coming out, despite having the setting on max heat. The engine temp got close to 100 Celcius but it never touched 100. I was able to make it home (probably because the fan (in engine compartment infrint of radiator) was working on full blast regardless of AC on or off. When I got home I checked for the area of coolant leak and behind the plastic wheel well liner ther was a weird hose of some sort. It is directly behind the driver side front tire (Left hand steering). I filled the coolant reservoir with water to see how fast the leak was, an even without the car on it would leak pretty quickly. With the car in it would take about 30 seconds to drain the reservoir completely dry. Attached you will see the place where the leak is coming from. If anyone could help me, it would be greatly appreciated.
A few days ago I was driving home when I noticed the smell of coolant in the AC. About 15 seconds after that, smoke started to come out of the AC vents. 30-45 seconds after that I got the notification on the dash “check coolant level” or something along those lines. I opened the windows to let the smoke out of the cabin and I then turned on the heater and put it on full blast to try to take heat away from the engine. No heat was coming out of the vents. Only cold air was coming out, despite having the setting on max heat. The engine temp got close to 100 Celcius but it never touched 100. I was able to make it home (probably because the fan (in engine compartment infrint of radiator) was working on full blast regardless of AC on or off. When I got home I checked for the area of coolant leak and behind the plastic wheel well liner ther was a weird hose of some sort. It is directly behind the driver side front tire (Left hand steering). I filled the coolant reservoir with water to see how fast the leak was, an even without the car on it would leak pretty quickly. With the car in it would take about 30 seconds to drain the reservoir completely dry. Attached you will see the place where the leak is coming from. If anyone could help me, it would be greatly appreciated.
Last edited by tjts1; 11-27-2017 at 05:12 PM.
11-29-2017, 01:05 AM
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The coolant leak is the least of your problems. Its very likely that you did some damage to your all aluminum open deck engine. The coolant temperature sensor is only accurate when there is coolant in contact with the sensor. When the coolant is gone, the 100c you're reading on the gauge is not indicative of the cylinder wall and head temps. If you have a major coolant leak STOP immediately, don't keep driving, don't try to make it home. A tow truck is far cheaper than an engine swap.
