2003 Taurus overheating or leaking???

[giddyup50]

My wife's 03 Taurus with 3.0 Vulcan with 55,000 miles had steam coming from under the hood and the temp. guage was going up. She got to work, shut it off. Then at lunch she drove a total of 2 miles and she said there was a burning metal smell. When I went to look at the car I noticed that the overflow tank was very low, still some in it, but low. There were no signs of a leak, no overspray anywhere. I filled it back up and took it to my friends shop and he did a pressure test on it, and there are no leaks. This happened two weeks ago and the car runs like it did before, no leaks, no steam, no overheating, no smells, and the car does have heat. My question is.....Where did the coolant go? Could she have just run it low? But if so, where is the leak? Like I said before, the car is fine two weeks later and the coolant level is still the same. Thank You.

[tripletdaddy]

I have questions more than answers. You didn't say, but when you first searched the engine after the steam incident, was there an any hint of an odor of hot coolant? Did you previously keep the coolant level at full? Did you check your oil for milkiness? Does your ac still work? If not, it may have discharged suddenly. Trace the ac lines looking for a clear, oily wet area. Get your engine coolant good and hot and start yanking, bending, etc. on all of the hoses and lines to see if you can trigger the leak again. Are you sure your wife really saw an excesively high guage temperature? Was the steam coming from the right front corner where the radiator cap and overflow tank are located? Is there any chance she hit a large body of water that would cause a lot of steam to come from the engine? Maybe only you should drive the car.

[Will Help]

Could be the thermostat was sticking and finally opened up after going through a heating/cooling cycle.

[aaachris]

I have a similar problem with my 98 vulcan. I bought the car three weeks ago, week one I noticed a very small amount of steam comming out the front radiator area after starting it cold and driving 8 miles. Then today again, the exact same thing. The coolant is just a touch low and the gage in both cases was normal. Im almost thinking a slight radiator leak or a hose leak intermittantly unless what you are saying about the thermostat being stuck may have something to do with it. I only noticed this problem when starting cold. Any thoughts?

[Will Help]

More than likely you have a small leak.

Thermostat would cause larger variation from normal temps according to whether it is stuck open or stuck closed.

Do check closer and determine where your leak may be. You don't want a complete hose or radiator failure on the road somewhere. Could be just a loose hose clamp!