Many customers come to our shop when they have trouble finding a coolant leak in their car. They will either get the dreaded “Low Coolant” light, tow their car in when they are overheating, or they see a puddle of coolant under their car. The process of finding the coolant leak isn’t too complicated, but then depending on where the leak is found can be complicated! It depends on where the coolant leak is found.
In the best case scenarios the coolant leak could come from a worn coolant hose. On most cars (excluding German cars) they are easily accessible and can be changed without too much trouble. In the worse case scenarios it can be a head gasket leak where the coolant is leaking internally from inside the engine or a coolant crossover tube buried deep inside the engine.
Coolant Leak Detection Tool
The most common leak detection tools allow you to pump air into the coolant system. This will apply pressure to the system and the leak area start leaking from the added pressure. The tool also allows you to measure the pressure in your cooling system in PSI. If the pressure drops then we search where the coolant is leaking from. If the leaking area isn’t visible from outside the engine the we have to run other tests to see if the coolant is leaking internally.
Common Leak Areas
Thankfully most of the time the most common coolant leaks we find are from the external coolant hoses or leaks from the water pump itself. These repairs are usually straight forward and affordable on most Asian and Domestic cars. On older German cars these repairs can also be simple, but on modern German cars they can be very time consuming and have very expensive replacement parts. In the case of this 2003 Ford Explorer we found the water pump was leaking after pressure testing and proceeded to replace it. It wasn’t a complicated or costly repair.
If you have a coolant leak or are getting a low coolant light, Contact Us and schedule an appointment for a diagnosis!
