Antifreeze leak???

Ricambi to the rescue again.

Good luck Robbie, hope it is something minor.

 

The arrow shows where it is leaking from...Under car passenger side in line with the wheel
The second pic shows on the floor where there is a small puddle and the saturation from under the car.
Is it possible forthe heater core to leak from inside the car dash area--down thru the dash out of the car and not get the interior wet??? Thinking--hoping it is one of the lines that feed the heater core. I believe they are hard line from the motor forward and become rubber line towards the heater core..
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Yes---Daniel is the go to guy for parts!!!!!!!

 

Have you had a look at the leak yet in the front yet? Near the heater core? That leak underneath can be in the centre of the car, but the coolant will run along the floorpan/suspension ect...........and drip down the side. Coolant and oil leaks can be very decieving sometimes.

 

If it is leaking at the heater core--is it possible for antifreeze to run down thru the dash and out of the car w/o me smelling it or feeling wetness.. I have had heater core problems with other cars. The first tell tale sign was the smell of antifreeze. Then the wetness inside the car--usually passenger floorboard. Not sure if these cars are set up similiar.

 

I am a little timid to take all that carpet out and not be able to get all the screws to line back up--I count 20 of them. What is the box at the top of the bonnet compartment?? It seems to have a fan of some sort in there..Was going to remove that and see down inside , but figure I would ask first.
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Yes, you would think so. Thats why I think its just a split heater hose or loose hose clamps running down the front firewall section of the car. Not the heater core inside the car. Its not wet inside the car near the centre console in the foot well areas?

 

No not at all---I double checked with my hands and got down on the floor and smelled it..No wetness or smell of antifreeze in the car at all..I guess my next step is to get it jacked up and remove those two belly pans and hope I see a split hose and something... Mdshore348 had a good thought that maybe during the major service the mechanic twisted one of the hard lines near the motor end fitting it back on. In turn split the line up near the front of the car or pulled it enough to loosen up a clamp up front...

 

All you need to remove is the top 4 outer screws. Thats all. Then peel off the rubber bonnet seal and the carpet will pull out. Will take 2mins. Check it out. I just had mine out last week when I had to charge the A/C.

 

Thats good to hear. I dont think that what the mechanic did has anything to do with this. I reckon its just one of those things. Split hose or loose clamp.

 

Somebody make Pap a consultant!! You are top notch man.

 

Looks like Daniel screen printed that bottom diagram directly from the owner's site.... Seems very plausible to have loosened something while putting the car back together... then again... if they did a major I would suspect they did a coolant flush as well.... maybe pressurizing the system to check for leaks pushed one of the fittings over the edge... get that bad boy up in air pronto copper boy!

 

Pull some strings and make it happen noah.

 

Removed the 4 screws, but that carpet is not moving. Look at removing that seal that goes all the way around and it is glued down>> I will mess with it again tomorrow--I am getting frustrated and thats when you break stuff--so I am going to bed---will be back at it tomorrow after I buy some jack stands--thanks for help guys--any more suggestions please post and I'll read them tomorrow..

 

4 screws buddy. The carpet may still have the factory glue sticking it down. You could half see it on my seal the other day. But my car has had numerous A/C work in the past. So im sure its been on and off alot. Have a go in the morning mate, dont get too fustrated. After all, anything can be fixed. If I was there, id do the job for ya. Have a good sleep and a better day tomorrow. And dont worry............ill be here watching. Ciao.

 

Pap, you are a gentleman and a GREAT asset to this forum!!!

Cheers,
Dean

 

You're most welcome Dean.
Thanks for the kind words.

 

No. It comes from the parts manual. It is an integrated software application requiring a hardware key in the back of my computer.

 

PAP, looks like Chris is not in agreement... must be the watch he's about to send you

 

You think so.......

 

Stop tearing things out!! I had coolant leaks almost like your pics. It seems leaking from the front of the car, but it is actually from under the reservor hose, but it manage to leaks follow through the underside belly pan to the front wheel. I then used Bar's (spelling?) stop leaks stuff and it totally stop the leak. Try that first before you have the whole car taken apart j/k.. Bars stuff works! I could not find out for sure if the source was the hose under the reservor, but the stain around the hose suggested so. gool luck.

 

If it's hose or loose clamp (which I had happen on my 328), I'd want to replace those. They tend to be inexpensive (especially compared to a heater core...) and I'd rather have a brand new hose there. No band-aid approaches. My two lira...

 

I totally agree! The problem with the 355 is that in order to get to the bottom of the reservor would requires a lot of dissemble of the surrounding area. Since the Bar seems to have stop it with out further leaks I took the band-aid approach before breaking more stuff.

 

Just spoke to the service tech that did the major. He said--just like PAP348 did---to take out the carpet in the front bonnet area. The heater box and heater valve are easily accesible from there. Not that it can't happen but he told me with the low miles on the car he wouldn't think it is a hose. Also to access the hoses is a pain in the rear. The belly pan to remove is very large and you can't see that good anyway unless I have a lift and a good flashlight.
He explained in detail how to take the carpet out to access the heater box. If he were to try and diagnose the problem that is where he would start. He has seen this problem before and 9/10 times it is the heater valve.. So carpet removal will begin at 3pm when I get home from work...