bad day in snow
 

i just went out with my ride to have little fun in the snow we got. bad bad bad.

i was doing some light driving drifting in the parking lot because of the snow and next thing i know there's coolant ALL over my engine and it's steaming off everywhere. i kept filling it with distilled water until i got home, because it kept heating up, walmart was right down about half a mile so i was able to get some. then filled i it with coolant thinking that since the cap was loose it was just that and must of bursted off, but when i went to fill it, it all leaks out somewhere under the back of the engine. ill try to get in on ramps today to check it out. hopefully it's just a small hose and nothing major. for now i'm waiting for it to cool down and bring it in the driveway.

bummer!
good luck with the repair.

That blows!

i'm hoping it is just a pipe or tube or something! luckily i got home without the need of a towtruck!

My guess is that it is the coolant connector on the rear of the engine. It is plastic and in a tight spot. It is easily accessable if you remove the air intake but that is a lot of work. I was able to change mine by using a ratcheting pivot wrench (10mm i think). There are 2 bolts that are not torqued much (in fact they can't be due to the plastic part.)
Use a mirror and light to see the area between the firewall and engine. If yo0u see signs of coolant there it is the problem. I removed mine after a few hours of work (blind work at that) by taking off the plug wire cover and the cabin filter cover. I think it might also help to take off the throttle body but I did not. If you do not have small hands and patience you will have to remove the air intake (get new gaskets) but it is more time but sure to work as the part is completely accessable. If you take the engine intake off you should also replace the plastic fitting underneath as it will fail soon after the rear one does..

Thanks. I'm getting it towed to the shop Monday and I'll give it a good look then and see what's next from there. All I know now is its somewhere in the back and more than likely needs a lot taken off to get too hah. I'll keep updated

There's plenty of info on this as this part is notorious for breaking. It's most commonly referred to as the plastic "Y" connector/fitting. Search the knowledge base section for "cooling system rebuild" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

It's not necessary to remove the intake manifold to access this part. You'll get better accessability by removing the valve cover. The "Y" fitting is located on the back of the cylinder head between the engine and the firewall. Removing the valve cover not only gains you better access to the "Y" fitting, but it also gives you the opportunity to replace the valve cover gasket, spark plug seals and clean out the CCV orifice on the left rear corner of the valve cover.

Some people remove the intake manifold to access the "octopus" fitting on the side of the engine block. Totally different part, totally different location. I don't recommend EVER removing the intake manifold. Most people who do this end up causing more problems because they can't figure out where stuff goes when they try to put everything back together. Instead, I recommend removing the alternator and oil filter housing to access the octopus fitting. Chances are, the oil filter housing is leaking anyway(another common problem with these cars), so this is a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone(access octopus fitting & fix leaking oil filter housing).

Whenever you "open the coolant loop"(replace a cooling system part), it's VERY IMPORTANT to bleed the system of air. There's a writeup in the knowledge base section on "How to properly bleed the cooling system". This process often takes several attempts to accomplish. This, combined with the fact that most if not all of your other cooling system parts are about the same age and have the same wear, makes it a good idea to replace everything at once. If the plastic connector on the back of your engine broke, the one on the side of the engine is probably getting ready to break too. Then the radiator, then the thermostat, then the water pump etc. Instead of draining, filling and bleeding the system over and over and over and over again, just replace everything at once and call it done.

And never drive a car that overheats. That's something a stupid teenage girl would do. For every second that your engine goes above normal operating temperature, you run a substantial risk of head gasket failure and a warped or cracked head. The temp needle doesn't even have to get to the red for a head gasket to fail. At the very least, you could pretty much count on the fact that you've fatigued the gasket and significantly shortened it's service life. So unless you have 2 grand burning a hole in your pocket, don't ever let the needle go past 12 o'clock.

I agree, taking off the intake manifold is not for the faint of heart or the disorganized.
I hadn't thought of taking off the valve cover or the oil filter housing when I did mone, wish I did think of it....

have taken off the valve cover to replace the seals and it was infinitely easier than the intake manifold, there is no comparing the jobs.

I'll bet that one of those plastic fittings is the issue though.

Thanks everyone. I owe you all

Jess, it was a hose that attaches to the "Y" plastic piece. I took quite a lot off now (im trying to avoid removing the intake), and it really doesn't even seem like i have to at all..? i was looking around with the flashlight and small mirror and everything just seems ill have to take a good look at it for a bit and then do it free handed.

that y pipe is super easy to access, if you remove battery and battery box, stick your arm thru that opening under the battery box and you can feel around for it, i have pretty bulky arms and i changed it by just removing that took me about 20mins

i actually took the intake off because i found three tubes that have major cracks in them. thanks for information trikzta ill check that out now.

I snapped mine back in the day busting a last minute sharp left turn. My motor mounts were worn so the engine flexed one way while my car went the other, and bam white smoke everywhere and no power

It's all fixed!

Also replaced a fuel injector I broke while replacing many rubber tubes I found that had major cracks. Replaced intake gaskets. Replaced my horror story negative cable. Also cleaned the intake. Car sounds better than ever...maybe it's because I've been without it for a week ;D feels so good to be back cheers!

Glad to here that you are back on the road. John