smoke from back top of engine, leaking antifreeze

[ryand15]

Yesterday when I was coming home, I parked my car and it started overheating. I opened the hood and smoke was shooting from behind the top of my motor and was making a hissing sound. All my antifreeze was gone and motor oil is a little low not bad though. I filled the antifreeze back up and put some oil in it. Now only when its started it still leaks antifreeze, when you turn it off it stops leaking. What could be the possible things wrong?

 

[LandoAWD]

I'd start by fixing the leak...

 

[95AWD6Bolt]

headgasket?

 

[ryand15]

I'd start by fixing the leak...

Im not sure where its coming from yet, Im going to put it on the ramps later. It seems to be dripping about the middle of the motor on the ground.

headgasket?

Thats what I was thinking. Maybe thats why the car was shooting smoke out of the top back of the motor. But I really dont know why my antifreeze would be leaking I just had it flushed, and a new timing belt and water put intalled about a 1000 miles ago.

 

[97 awd talon]

agree with the headgasket..heard of this before and it was headgasket start there

 

[Junfan]

If you are losing coolant that fast it would be easy to spot. Is the oil thin and look/feel like it has coolant? Maybe you have a bad hose to the throttle body as an example and blowing coolant all over the back of your motor while hot. Start small work your way up. Don't just assume the worst. Maybe you let the oil get low not realizing it too.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

You can start out by doing a pressure test on the cooling system. You can rent the tool from any auto parts store. If you have a leaky hose, this will help you find it without the car running.

 

[ryand15]

Well I bought a head gasket kit and some new bolts, hopefully my car will be maintance free for a while!

 

[LandoAWD]

So you found something in the suggested tests?

 

[ryand15]

Yes I was told my headgasket was blown.