View Full Version : Steam coming out of Grill
Just noticed today some steam in front of my headlights! Was coming out of the grill, not a huge amount but enough to notice. Was dark so hard to see where it was coming from, but was somewhere near the rad. Any ideas on what it could be? Possible split pipe or a new rad needed, so glad car has warrenty.
Possibly a split pipe or a leaking rad, as you say
yeah will try to investigate in daylight, but it stands out more in dark in headlights, just hard then to see where it comes from
Autosparks
22-05-2006, 22:53
Mine sometimes lets out a bit of visible steam just as it's getting up to temperature
Never been able to find a leak and it doens't loose water either
has it been raining/are the roads wet?
has it been raining/are the roads wet?
Yeah it has but i was parked on drive, got out of car to look at back as someone told me my number plate light isn't working, then turned around to see steam coming out the grill. Surely anything off the road would have already gone by then?
Noticed it the other day when sat at traffic lights but thought nothing of it, thinking it was prob just from exhaust being blown back up the car.
Sounds like you might have blown a headlight gasket, it's probably head light fluid leaking on to the rad.
would this affect the tick over of the engine at all causing the revs to drop slightly when sat in traffic?
Also the car feels like it has a pretty bad power curve on it, could a head gasket failure cause this?
I know exactly what that is... Mine does it too...
Its where there is water from rain, milldue etc on the rad. When the engines up to temp it sents piping hot water into the rad and the water thats on the outside steams off...
I know exactly what that is... Mine does it too...
Its where there is water from rain, milldue etc on the rad. When the engines up to temp it sents piping hot water into the rad and the water thats on the outside steams off...
That sounds like the most likly cause, try it in the dry.
Scottyboy
23-05-2006, 08:24
Yeah probably some rain water running from one of the gutters just burning off fromt he manifold or exhaust. Are you loosing coolant? does the 'steam' have the acrid smell of antifreeze?
cheers all will wait to test it in the dry then.
It didn't smell of anti-freeze, but it did smell/feel heavier than ordinary steam from boiling water, hard to explain, smelt a bit like steam from a steam engine hehe.
One other thing to check - early in my coupe turbo's life I had a problem where one of the plastic ends on the radiator actually started coming away (ever so slightly) from the metal main body of the radiator, and this caused a similar issue - new rad. fitted under warranty and was great since...
i had this problem on my coupe it turned out tobe the water pumpYeah probably some rain water running from one of the gutters just burning off fromt he manifold or exhaust. Are you loosing coolant? does the 'steam' have the acrid smell of antifreeze?1 when u turn your car off try and have a look down the side of the cam belt and altrernator on the lip of the sump there will be water! thats from the water pump.
When sitting in traffic (when its raining) I see steam rising. The first time I saw this I hit the hazzards dived out like a muppett thinking something was wrong with the car. i opened the bonnet and its fine. Its just water running on to the rad or manifold causing it to steam. The cars perfect no faults just something that happens on a G I think.
jam
cheers hopefully nothing to worry about then, just a bit of a shock as never saw it once on my hatch.
On a slightly different note to save a new thread any idea what could be causing this? Dodgy spark plug/coil pack?
Also does anyone else have problems with there exhaust hitting speed bumps? The coupe really doesn't look that low, but 20mph or more and the exhaust scrapes on the floor, think it is the front section that is catching, standard exhaust.
would this affect the tick over of the engine at all causing the revs to drop slightly when sat in traffic?