Coolant tank broken

[patsanger]

Ok - car seems to have broken the engine coolant plastic tank. Any idea where to get one and is this normal? Should I be looking for anything?

The car suddenly revved up and when we got it home there was a crackel and popping from under the hood. When we opened it the coolant tank had broken at the bottom (of course) and was leaking everywhere.

Ideas?

[CREWZIN]

ideas? Replace it and NO, it's not normal. You either have to go to the dealer and order one or find one from a non-turbo (assuming yours is non-turbo) in a salvage yard.

You might try doing a Google search on-line also.

oogle search on-line and maybe get lucky and find one.

[Candyman]

Hey their patsanger,

First off, welcome to the Forum!

Oddly enough I am pretty much in the same spot, but on mine I am not sure if it is the tank itself, or something related to it. I do know it is leaking directly under where the tank is without a doubt but mine will hold coolant with no leaks at all until my engine gets up to normal operating temperatures at which point it will start dripping, then leaking more, and shortly after I will have a huge puddle on the ground and an overheated engine if I were to let it get to that point.

I unfortunately can't see any visible cracks on the tank anywhere, and am still at a bit of a loss as to exactly where it is leaking from at the moment. SO I recon I am most likely going to bite the bullet myself and have my mechanic take a better look at her as sadly, I am not nearly as good with a wrench as I am with a paint gun.

Anyways, I wish you the best of luck on locating, and resolving your leak.

Take er easy, and please let me know what you find when you get er fixed. Till then, I'll catch ya later on.

Candyman

[patsanger]

Ok - now that it is cool the coolant tank is full to where it should be. I can't get it to drip or anything.

Weird. I will have to look at it again and get the car hot again. Any ideas as to what I could have seen dripping/pouring from that area (2005 turbo)?

Thanks!

[CREWZIN]

Is the dripping plain water or coolant? My guess is that's it's condensation (plain water) from the A/C. It drips (heavily) right by the passenger front wheel and it will leave a heck of a puddle of water while your sitting at idle with the A/C running. If you get under the car you can see the black hollow tube where the water comes from.

[Candyman]

Hey their patsanger,

Okay, I messed around with my PT for several hours today chatting with a few guys from over at the PT Crew Forum which has several pretty good mechanics that are regulars, and I think we got mine figured out. So lets see if we can't do the same for you I hope.

The two things I was told to check is:

1. Make sure the cap to the coolant tank is on snug as this can create some air in the system and force coolant out of the overflow. It is pretty rare, but can happen as I was told.

2. Run over to your local Auto Parts Store and pick up a $4.00 new radiator cap. I pulled mine off which I have literally almost never messed with since new, and it looked perfectly fine to me, and I was kind of not really thinking much about it being much of a problem causing the tank to leak, but sure enough. I replaced the $4.00 radiator cap, ran it about 10 minutes expecting it to leak big time as soon as the engine hit normal temp and to my amazement, nothing. I ran it around the block twice, and she looks nice and dry.

So evidently a $4.00 radiator cap was causing air to get into the system and causing back pressure to push coolant out of the overflow, and onto the ground.

Might be a good starting point, and hopefully maybe a fix for your problem as well. I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Good luck and please let me know how you make out with it.

Go easy, and I'll catch ya later.

Candyman