I was coming home with a buddy in his '97 vert tonight. We pulled up to a light and he got on it fairly hard up til about 50mph, then backed off. I thought I smelled a whiff of coolant, but then it went away. About 2 mins later his low coolant idiot light came on. His temp gauge was about midway across, but seemed to remain steady. We hit another light and the coolant smoke was readily apparant from under the hood. Coolant light stayed on and temp was slowly rising. We pulled over at the next available gas station and popped the hood.
The whole top of the engine was wet and smoking. Hoses seemed to be ok. On the passenger side laying on the top of the engine under the intake, behind the alternator was a huge pool of coolant. We filled the radiator with water and started it back up. With a flashlight, you could see a waterfall of coolant behind the alternator falling into the pool on top of the block.
I can't think for the life of me what would be behind the alternator toward the top of the engine that would let go? You can't really see that area from the top of the engine due to the alternator bracket blocking the view.
I'm not overly familiar with the architecture of these 4.6L's, so I'm grasping at straws. I would assume it's too high to be a head gasket (oil also seemed uncontaminated). Radiator intake hose is on the other side of the engine at the top and didn't seem to be leaking.
Anyone know? He's only got about 57k miles on this baby!
The whole top of the engine was wet and smoking. Hoses seemed to be ok. On the passenger side laying on the top of the engine under the intake, behind the alternator was a huge pool of coolant. We filled the radiator with water and started it back up. With a flashlight, you could see a waterfall of coolant behind the alternator falling into the pool on top of the block.
I can't think for the life of me what would be behind the alternator toward the top of the engine that would let go? You can't really see that area from the top of the engine due to the alternator bracket blocking the view.
I'm not overly familiar with the architecture of these 4.6L's, so I'm grasping at straws. I would assume it's too high to be a head gasket (oil also seemed uncontaminated). Radiator intake hose is on the other side of the engine at the top and didn't seem to be leaking.
Anyone know? He's only got about 57k miles on this baby!