Hey dudes..

Drove home today no issues, went to go take out trash noticed the Disco II gushing coolant.

Popped my head under there cannot identify where it is coming from, near/behind the power steering pump.

It its leaking onto 2 lines, from the corner of that big *** silver box. Technically I know.

I attached a pic, hopefully someone can diagnose.

 

It could be the intake heating gasket or hose (easy), upper hose between engine block and thermo (easy), the front cover (not easy), or head gasket (really not easy).

Personally, I'd hose everything off with brake clean, refill the cooling system, then use a flashlight to find the leak. You may need to pressurize the system - Advance Auto Parts is the only shop with a pressure test kit that fits our coolant tanks.

 

The other option could be the water pump gasket or weep hole.

If it is truly emanating from the location pointed out in your photo, it's most likely your front cover, and as the good doctor pointed out...not so easy.

 

Got back under there today and got some better pictures... It seems to originate somewhere behind the power steering pump.

Please see attached.

Just want to rule out anything minor I can fix before taking it to a thief.

 

Dr. Mordo, just a quick question. Do you have to top it up with some water or does it have to be coolant. My me mechanic was inspecting the vehicle and forgot to close the reservoir. He cranked up the car and some coolant spilled out. He topped it up with water. Is that ok?

 

Running with water is fine.

You could try UV dye. Although it's a big leak, you might get a closer idea of its origin. I've never used it, some people swear by it.

But for now, water is fine as coolant. Distilled ideally.

 

Yep, distilled water is fine. If the mechanic didn't use distilled water, it's ok, but will contribute a tiny, tiny bit to the slow death or your radiator.

You could run water only (no coolant), but it wouldn't cool quite as efficiently and could freeze during winter if it gets cold where you are.

 

Before I did anything I would find the leak. Clean it off, top it up, then pressurize the system and see where it leaks. It could just be a loose hose clamp.

 

follow the air intake pipe and see the two little black hoses that plug in under the throttle body? that's a common failure item and will spew coolant all over the driver's side of the engine. it's a throttle defroster plate, not expensive, fairly easy. hopefully you find a rubber or plastic hose leaking instead of an intake gasket or water pump, or at worst, cylinder head gasket. good luck

 

It is big enough of a leak to make it easy to locate source of leak, so, again, CLEAN IT ALL UP AT CAR WASH HOT SPRAY, or by hand, if too far from car wash; crawl around until you find the leak, and fix it. To try to find leak from photos online, especially with so much black junk covering things, makes it most difficult to impossible to find that way. Beware, don't drive vehicle with low coolant, or you risk overheating, which could lead to extreme damage and high cost to repair.