Coolant problem

[Gatecrasher]

I got home last night and my Neighbour chapped my door telling me there was a puddle under my car, went out to the car with him and sure enough there was, checked the oil levels initially then spotted the coolant bottle with next to nothing in it. I have booked it in for Friday to have it checked over and bought a bottle of Coolant from Halfords to last me until Friday. It only had it's service and MOT less than 2 months ago and I have only done about 2000 miles since then - this extended warranty looks like it could be handy.

[Bigfeet]

Nothing obvious about where the leak is?

[Gatecrasher]

The puddle was near the front of the car, I couldn't see anything obvious though.

[minimike]

Was it definitely a coolant puddle you could see? It may just be from your A/C. Should be easy enough to tell the difference.

[lfcrule1972]

I'd start with a water puddle from the AC condenser initially, did you happen to notice if the coolant bottle was full after the last service ? If it is coolant it should smell so you can tell the difference between that and water

[StevenRB45]

Also has it evaporated now? Coolant obviously contains antifreeze so usually stays on the ground a lot longer than water. Possibly an idea to put some clean paper under where the leak was next time you park up so you can see the colour of the liquid and or lack of..

[Gatecrasher]

Was it definitely a coolant puddle you could see? It may just be from your A/C. Should be easy enough to tell the difference.

It was the only conclusion I could come to as all other levels are fine

I'd start with a water puddle from the AC condenser initially, did you happen to notice if the coolant bottle was full after the last service ? If it is coolant it should smell so you can tell the difference between that and water

Yes, it was full after the service. I didn't smell anything

Also has it evaporated now? Coolant obviously contains antifreeze so usually stays on the ground a lot longer than water. Possibly an idea to put some clean paper under where the leak was next time you park up so you can see the colour of the liquid and or lack of..

It's left a dark patch on my driveway, Sounds like a good idea to put something under the car.

[Gatecrasher]

The coolant was below the minimum level despite me filling it up 2 days ago!

[Jan79]

As the level was down again it is quite sure you have a leakage in your cooling system.
From the picture I would assume the cooler has a hole maybe from a stone chip.

[Gatecrasher]

Turns out it was a hose clip that had corroded away and needed replaced.

[Jan79]

good to hear it just was a clip.

[StevenRB45]

Gotta say slightly worrying it's corroded badly enough to fail at a max of 3 years. Hopefully just a dodgy one and not indicative of the quality of the clips.