FIXED and RUNNING!!! Sudden loss of Coolant, steam coming from engine bay!

[pwvarley]

Let me preface this post by saying I absolutely love my X5 and I appreciate all the invaluable information I have received from this forum, it has made owning this car a lot less expensive! I am currently in a 2001 x5 4.4l but after work for the summer am going to look for a 2005 or 06 4.8is

But

Just took the X on a cross country drive from Arizona to Indianapolis and it performed extremely well. However, today as I was driving around I started smelling coolant and then got the Check Coolant Level notification on the dash, pulled over immediately and turned off the car, steam starting coming up from the left side of engine (as you looked at it from outside the car)

I got out and popped the hood and coolant was sprayed primarily around the AIRBOX and MAF area and steam coming from under the Engine Cover.

The car did not overheat at all during this process and I have never had a problem with the car overheating....

The Expansion Tank and one of the hoses was replaced last week actually (lost the damn clip and you have to buy the hose to replace the clip).

No coolant was spilling out of the expansion tank or anywhere on that side of the motor.

Is it bad to fill the expansion tank with distilled water, turn the car on and wait to see where the leak is coming from? Or is there a better way to determine the cause of the leak.


Any help would be appreciated, and a shout out to everyone who gave input on the Emission monitor problem I over came last week, I actually decided to become a premier member because of all the help I have received from the people on here