Noticed few drops of antifreeze (2" diameter) on driveway under 98 Accord which probably occurred over last week. Resevoir level is down to min line. Added 10 oz of water to resv min/max line. Cause?

Asked by PhilHarris1776 Nov 23, 2014 at 01:26 PM about the 1998 Honda Accord EX

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Noticed several 1-2" almost dry drops of what I think is antifreeze under my 98 Honda
Accord EX. The wet stains are clear or slightly green not brown(oil) or Red (trans).
Coolant resevior was down to min level (engine was cold). Drops appear to be on
passenger side where res is located. I added about 10 oz of tap water to resevior and
drove car about 5 miles to get engine temp up to hot. Temp gauge in normal mid range.
I put white paper under engine but no drops so far! Any ideas on what is causing these
drops? No other leaks of oil or trans. I guess I can just add a few oz of coolant/ antifreeze
every week or two but, I am a little concerned. We just had a couple of nights where temp
dropped to 20 degrees. Could it be a hose ready to burst etc?

3 Answers

It's very difficult to say where the drops are coming from just from here looking at this, and not the car. For one thing, always use distilled water if at all possible, in a roadside situation where you have to add tap is better than nothing. If the coolant has not been changed in several years, it's probably time to do so, a 50/50 mix of un-diluted coolant or pre-mixed.

1 people found this helpful.

Also Make sure you look on the reservoir for the cold level fill marks, don't over-fill cold or it will spit it out. And a 50/50 will protect it well below zero °F. The only vehicles that need a 60/40 or 70/30 are if wherever you are gets to like 20 below.. ever.

1 people found this helpful.

If I had paid attention I would have noticed you did look at the marks. And just to add, a 1998 model car, any car, with no drops of any kind is the anomaly, not the norm.

1 people found this helpful.

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