I searched here and other places and didn't find anyone with an instance of coolant exploding in the engine bay and it all running onto the ground... but sorry if this has been discussed before.

I just did some maintenance on my car, and took it out to see how it responded to everything... drove it pretty hard, but the water temp never got to mid-point and there were no signs of anything going wrong. As I pulled into my house, all of the sudden I see smoke coming from under the hood... oh crap!
Popped the hood only to hear the wonderful crackling sounds of coolant hitting a hot engine, and looked underneath the car to see the coolant just gushing out onto the pavement. Lucky me this happened at night, I park outside, and couldn't find my flashlight.

Going to take a look around once it gets lighter here, but does anyone have an idea about what could cause this? Seems to be rare, since I could not find another story about it, but I did read about either the Heater Control Valve or the Lower Radiator Hose going...

FYI, the list of things I did to the car last weekend, in case any could have an effect (doubtful):

Oil Change - 10w40 Royal Purple
Gear Oil Change - Mobil 1 75w90 LS
A/C and PS Belt Changes
Intake Mod

Thank you in advance for any assistance!

 

Sounds like you blew or split a hose. You can re-fill it and maybe see where its coming from. If it only leaks under pressure then you'll have to refill and do a system pressure test to find it.

 

Yeah, it's probably either an old coolant hose that split or your heater control valve.

 

or your water pump..

 

The HCV looked OK, with no fluid on it nor the Oil Filter... but I don't know what it would look like if it WAS bad...

Going to put coolant in it and see if I can tell anything. I am guessing it has a lot to do with the pressure, because once I turned the car off last night it slowly stopped spewing coolant everywhere, at least until it was all gone, but it clearly was pressurized!

Don't have a garage or place to work on it now that all of my friends are gone that usually help me. And considering it is in the 30's here, I am just going to start drinking and hopefully forget about all of this...

 

Sounds exactly like the time my lower hose split.. GD , where in Dixie are you? If you are close enough to me in Forest Va, I have a garage slot you can borrow...let us know what you find, good luck.

Cheers, Mike

 

Where exactly is the "lower hose" located? I am sure that I could find it easily, but I have yet to get underneath the car since this happened (as you know). I am hoping it will be easy to identify because once the engine was shut off, and the pressure went down, the coolant was still pouring out the bottom, which tells me there is probably a significant rupture somewhere... I am also hoping that it is NOT the Water Pump, and simply a hose somewhere... :fingerscrossed:

I am in Nashville, TN, so a little bit too far to take you up on the offer, but I can't tell you how much I appreciate your willingness to help and the overall support of this community!

I will report back after New Year's once I can get under the car and investigate.

Thanks again to all!

 

try using one of those pressurizing units that you attach to the expansion tank...See where you're leaking from...

Guaranteed to be the most inconvenient hose! Probably the lower hose, though...You don't have anything leaking to the inside of the car, do you?

Just in case it's the expansion tank, let me know because I just bought the SFR aluminum replacement tank, so I have the OEM unit available.

 

Nothing leaking inside the car, thankfully... what is the "expansion tank," I will want to check that too?

 

I too would check the Heater valve. If air gets in them, they tend to E-splode! You'd need to get your hands on it to tell. Anything else should be readily apparent.

 

Where is the heater valve? I am having a brain cramp....

The expansion tank is the plastic radiator resivour (spelled wrong I know) It sometime can crack over time but I would guess it would not be it because of the volume but you never know. I also have a spare if you need one.

When you find the leak, here is the "get the air out" procedure- good luck

 

Behind the distributor cap, above the exhaust manifold.

Circled the general area followed by a pic of the valve.

 

see above. It's in a MUCH better spot than it is on a 951.

 

951 is real bitch to change. Along with the other 20 coolant hoses.

 

Found the cramp- I was also thinking 951. I have never had to change one on the 968- great pics there smokiemon or ah errrr PorscheDude1..!!! THe motor looks great and I do dig the ******* Waggon.

Have a great Christmas All- Mike