Overheating??? Leak????

Hey guys, I know this is not the Taurus forum but, anytime I ask these kind of ?'s they take forever or they don't know.

My wife's 03 Taurus had steam coming out from the hood and her temp. guage was going up while on her way to work last week. Then she drove about 1 mile for lunch and back and she could smell a bad smell with the heater on. I went to her work when I got off and checked the overflow tank and it was very low, still some in it but very low. There were no signs of leaks or any overspray from coolant. I filled the overflow up and took it to a shop and they did a pressure test and found no leaks. They said it may be the thermostat, then if not that it might need flushed. It's been a week and the car is fine, no leaks, no smells, no steam, no nothing. And the car has heat.

What's the deal? I've never experienced this before. What happened to the coolant? Like I said, there are NO signs of ANY leaks.

Thank You

My fiancee's '01 Malibu did something similar. It wouldn't overheat but the dummy light would come on. The leak was so small that it pretty much just "steamed". Ended up being the CTS was leaking just enough to leave a trickle that I found when changing her oil.

I'd suggest just keeping a check on the coolant level and see what happens. I have actually seen these things "fix themselves" before. The just get hot and move to the right spot so that even when the engine cools it doesnt leak.

Flushing is crap.

It could be a theromsat. Fill with water and make sure it does not drip from the water pump.

Cooling systems are very basic.

Could be a blown head gasket or a blocked radiator, but doubt it.

If the radiator gets hot all the way through, its not that.

Check your coolant for gray foam or sludge. Check your oil for the same - just to rule out major issues with the engine. Sometimes you can have a very small pinhole leak, especially if it is in the heater core and never find it. Those types of leaks can also come and go depending (sometimes small debris can actually block the hole back up again and seal the leak). If there is no indication of oil in the coolant than I would just keep an eye on the coolant level and temp gauges for now. You may be looking into a repair soon but in the meantime I would not worry.

Or Gremlins, they made a move about them a while back:)

Thanks guys. This happened last Thur. and it is still fine.


Did anyone get any snow? In Bloomington Illinois we got 10 inches! And because of it this whole day has been messed up!!!!


Anyone know why a snowblower will run for 10 min. then just stop and not start again? No, it didn't run out of gas and I already drained the old gas out and put in new.


Thanks again!!