HELP COOLANT ALL DRAINED OUT WHILE DRIVING

[benfbuilder]

Was driving on the freeway towing a small enclosed trailer when I noticed a giant cloud of steam in my mirrors and then the check coolant level warning came on. Pulled off the freeway into a gas station and am now stuck. There is no coolant whatsoever and the hoses are all empty. Enginge did not overheat luckily. Look like the coolant came from the rear of the engine and sprayed all over the firewall. What do I do? It's 95°f here today and I'm roughly 7 miles from home. I can't leave my trailer as it is full of tools. What do you think this is? The heater core maybe?

[mam4.6]

Best thing to do would be fill it up again, and get somebody to start the engine while you watch where it comes from. I had one get a hole in the back there. This is the part number for the hose I had to replace... 64218409062

[jdstrickland]

Definitely NOT heater core.

Have the car towed to the shop, since the heater core is in the discussion there's no chance you will be fixing this yourself. Call a buddy to come get the trailer.

[squidzilla]

Dang that sucks. Glad you got you did not get an overheated engine.

Hopefully the tow does not cost more than 50-100.00

[stiubhartach]

You could try to fill once it is cool. Never in a hot engine. And see where the leak is. It could have just been a low coolant turns to steam and blows all out through the relief cap event. If you are lucky.

Fill. Start engine with cap off.
Watch water flow with cap off.
If all is ok after a few minutes, put cap on.
Let idle until operations temperature.
Leak? Then take to shop.
No leak and hot. Continue trip. carry water in jugs.

[benfbuilder]

A friend is on the way to tow the trailer to my mom's house since it is close (7 miles) and the insurance will cover the tow back to my place (25 miles) but I still need to find out the problem. There's no way I'm taking to into the stealership or even a shop. I don't have $3k to drop on this thing. I will do the work myself regardless of what it is. Also the coolant was not low, I topped it off two days ago and check it every so often.

[stiubhartach]

Saw you're only 7 miles from home. You can drive with the cap off that far so you don't have to pressurize the system as long as water is full and flowing in the coolant system.

[stiubhartach]

The most common reason this happens is a blown hose.

If the hoses are fine, the next most common thing is a pinhole leak during a trip that causes low water and a hot spot in the engine. Then it suddenly turns to steam and blows the water all out the relief valve.

The easiest way to find a non apparent leak is to get UV dye and a light (AutoZone). It works best looking after dark.

[IgotBMW]

Any update on this? Hope you made it home safely.

[benfbuilder]

Yes, I am home now tearing apart the x as we speak. I've located the leak at the back left of the engine and I can't seem to figure out how to get the electrical box off the engine. I've removed the bolts and unplugged the coils. How does this thing come out? It's in my way.