Car leaked antifreeze all over pavement

TRACIJOHNSON

MEMBER
1991 PONTIAC SUNBIRD
2.0L
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
183,000 MILES

I left the car to warm up this morning.20 minutes or so. When I got out to leave there was anti-freeze all over the pavement. My husband thinks it could be the thermostat. He also told me that thermostat was in the radiator and all I had to do was swap them out. Well, I looked this up and it's just a TAD more complicated than that! So. Should I try and get someone to replace my thermostat or put in radiator stop-leak?

:)

3 Replies

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,870 POSTS

I need a couple questions answered where did the coolant leak from? Also how hot did the temp go higher then normal? Also I don't recommend stop leak I have seen it plug up heater cores etc. You could just have a leak and nothing to do with the thermostat we need to do some digging before we make that decision.

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Tuesday, November 18th, 2014 AT 8:44 AM

TRACIJOHNSON

MEMBER
2 POSTS

At the bottom of the radiator (right below the cap) there was a pool of antifreeze. The temp did NOT go past the first mark. I drove the 20 miles to my job and it registered below the 1st mark. When I got into town.I had to stop at a stop light and it started going past the 1st mark for the first time.

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Tuesday, November 18th, 2014 AT 8:56 AM

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,870 POSTS

So was it coming out of the cap or the radiator itself? Also you could just have a bad radiator cap allowing the coolant to leak out because the cap no longer holds the correct pressure.

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Tuesday, November 18th, 2014 AT 6:16 PM