Anyone good with cars?
Problems with the shitbox again: tonight when I got back from hockey and got out of the car, I saw steam coming from under the hood and heard a sizzling sound.
The (totally empty) coolant reservoir is on the far left (in the middle, with the hose leading out of the bottom).
This is a close-up of the area around the battery. The liquid droplets are all coolant (or, at least, greenish). A lot seems to have sprayed out, but confined to the area of this close-up; a fair amount has dripped off of everything and collected on the belly pan below.
The car drove normally on the way home; if not for the steam and sizzling I might not have noticed. I admit I didn't pay attention to the temperature gauge on the dashboard on the drive home. But after I got out and looked under the hood for a few minutes, I put the key back in and turned it to the accessory position to actuate the gauge. It didn't reach the red part, but it came close. I'm probably lucky to have reached home before it overheated badly.
So what do you think? Radiator leak? Busted hose in this area? (FWIW I didn't see any obvious ruptures but that doesn't mean there isn't one.)
Should I fill it with coolant and hope that lasts long enough to drive it to my mechanic (10-15 minutes, mostly highway) or just have it towed? I do have AAA Plus so it's a free tow. (I'm going to call the mechanic in the morning for their opinion too, but I figured I'd see what my LJ audience thinks...)
The (totally empty) coolant reservoir is on the far left (in the middle, with the hose leading out of the bottom).
This is a close-up of the area around the battery. The liquid droplets are all coolant (or, at least, greenish). A lot seems to have sprayed out, but confined to the area of this close-up; a fair amount has dripped off of everything and collected on the belly pan below.
The car drove normally on the way home; if not for the steam and sizzling I might not have noticed. I admit I didn't pay attention to the temperature gauge on the dashboard on the drive home. But after I got out and looked under the hood for a few minutes, I put the key back in and turned it to the accessory position to actuate the gauge. It didn't reach the red part, but it came close. I'm probably lucky to have reached home before it overheated badly.
So what do you think? Radiator leak? Busted hose in this area? (FWIW I didn't see any obvious ruptures but that doesn't mean there isn't one.)
Should I fill it with coolant and hope that lasts long enough to drive it to my mechanic (10-15 minutes, mostly highway) or just have it towed? I do have AAA Plus so it's a free tow. (I'm going to call the mechanic in the morning for their opinion too, but I figured I'd see what my LJ audience thinks...)