Confession, this is my first vehicle and I know next to nothing about cars in general, so keep in mind you might have to dumb down your answers a bit.
Here goes. I had my beat up yellow Xterra (lovingly named Wall-E) repaired around August, and they replaced seals to fix an oil leak, steering fluid leak, and bypassed my heater core after it started smoking, because I didn't have $600 to drop on getting it replaced. That cost a cool $800ish. So.. no heat at all, but I live in the South Georgia. We don't get snow. It was pretty much 60's and 70's weather all winter.
It's a Sunday night, we're trying to move some furniture. In the past few days, my previously repaired steering fluid leak has cropped up again and I've been listening to make sure it doesn't start making that whining noise when it gets low. I also check all the other fluids to make sure the other repaired leak hasn't failed as well. We had the fluids completely filled last weekend, but nothing had gotten low except the steering fluid.
Wall-E sounded a little rough on starting the engine, heavy gas smell, but it settled out after a while and we get to the destination without a hitch. Leaving the engine running and idling for a bit, which I usually don't do, we start loading. Not even two minutes go by and I hear something hissing and liquid hitting pavement. I go up front, and it's smoking and gushing coolant out of the bottom. I immediately cut the engine off and pop the hood, but waited for a bit before I risked lifting it up. The temperature hasn't even nudged... still reading cold. There's no scent to the coolant, just the smell of it burning. The underside of the hood is dripping with it, it's all over the driver's side of the engine and even splattered as far as the battery on the far side. It's already getting dark. I had a flashlight, but could not seem to pinpoint any leaking hoses. We turn the engine back on... no sound, no change to the temperature reading at all, no more coolant leaking out. The coolant is low, for obvious reasons, but the gauge hasn't even fluttered.
We managed to drive it from one side of the building to the other before the temp started to go up to half. I didn't want to risk moving it further than to get it out of the storage facility and to the parking lot outside it. That's where it currently is. Tomorrow, I have to move it from there and I have no idea what I should be checking to make sure it can even survive the trip. If I refill the coolant, could I get it the three miles home without causing more damage? How can I tell if it's a head gasket? What possible leaking spots should I check? Regardless, I don't have the money to have it repaired, so it's going to be enjoying a hiatus unless this is something even a total ignorant could manage. Help? Damsel in distress?
Here goes. I had my beat up yellow Xterra (lovingly named Wall-E) repaired around August, and they replaced seals to fix an oil leak, steering fluid leak, and bypassed my heater core after it started smoking, because I didn't have $600 to drop on getting it replaced. That cost a cool $800ish. So.. no heat at all, but I live in the South Georgia. We don't get snow. It was pretty much 60's and 70's weather all winter.
It's a Sunday night, we're trying to move some furniture. In the past few days, my previously repaired steering fluid leak has cropped up again and I've been listening to make sure it doesn't start making that whining noise when it gets low. I also check all the other fluids to make sure the other repaired leak hasn't failed as well. We had the fluids completely filled last weekend, but nothing had gotten low except the steering fluid.
Wall-E sounded a little rough on starting the engine, heavy gas smell, but it settled out after a while and we get to the destination without a hitch. Leaving the engine running and idling for a bit, which I usually don't do, we start loading. Not even two minutes go by and I hear something hissing and liquid hitting pavement. I go up front, and it's smoking and gushing coolant out of the bottom. I immediately cut the engine off and pop the hood, but waited for a bit before I risked lifting it up. The temperature hasn't even nudged... still reading cold. There's no scent to the coolant, just the smell of it burning. The underside of the hood is dripping with it, it's all over the driver's side of the engine and even splattered as far as the battery on the far side. It's already getting dark. I had a flashlight, but could not seem to pinpoint any leaking hoses. We turn the engine back on... no sound, no change to the temperature reading at all, no more coolant leaking out. The coolant is low, for obvious reasons, but the gauge hasn't even fluttered.
We managed to drive it from one side of the building to the other before the temp started to go up to half. I didn't want to risk moving it further than to get it out of the storage facility and to the parking lot outside it. That's where it currently is. Tomorrow, I have to move it from there and I have no idea what I should be checking to make sure it can even survive the trip. If I refill the coolant, could I get it the three miles home without causing more damage? How can I tell if it's a head gasket? What possible leaking spots should I check? Regardless, I don't have the money to have it repaired, so it's going to be enjoying a hiatus unless this is something even a total ignorant could manage. Help? Damsel in distress?
