I think my 2013 LaCrosse has a coolant leak

[Human]

So I've noticed the past couple of days that when I park in my driveway, the cooling fans continued running after I shut the car off, even though it's not terribly hot outside. Then today, I was at a stop light, getting ready to turn in to Costco to get gas and I got a warning that the car was overheating so I turned it off until the light changed and kept it turned off in the gas line, except when I needed to pull forward. Once I got my gas, I pulled around to a parking space and checked the coolant reservoir to find it almost completely empty. It usually stays half full. I ran in to Costco, hoping they sold coolant but no such luck. I was pressed for time because I was supposed to take a friend to get outpatient surgery so I just stopped off at NAPA and grabbed a gallon of Peak 50/50, 'mixes with anything' coolant, dumped a little more than half the jug into the reservoir and went on to my friend's house. The surgery center was about 15 miles away from my friend's place and about 35 or 40 miles from my house and I didn't have any more problems. When I checked the coolant level later on, it wasn't appreciably lower. I'm going to check the driveway in the morning to see if any coolant has dripped. I've got a very busy week coming up so it may be the following week before I can get it to a shop to be more thoroughly diagnosed.

 

[Mad*Max]

Did you check the level cold?

 

[SlowBoating]

Sounds like you're doing it right. If you want to get under the car you can probably easily locate any leaking. Coolant will turn whitish when it dries.

 

[Human]

So I checked the car this morning after it had sat all night. There is no sign of coolant leaking onto the driveway and the level in the reservoir is still at the same spot as when I looked yesterday evening. One thing that is a bit odd is that while the coolant in the reservoir is yellow, the color of the stuff I poured in yesterday, there is a second coolant bottle down low, which I understand serves the induction motor that does triple duty on the hybrid setup, filling the functions of the starter, alternator and electric drive motor. The coolant in that bottle is still bright orange, suggesting perhaps the coolant isn't fully circulating. With the amount of driving I did yesterday, I would have thought the coolant would have been more thoroughly blended to create a more uniform color in the two bottles.

 

[Human]

There's definitely a coolant leak. I moved the car Sunday afternoon after it had sat for more than 24 hours and there was a spot of coolant on the driveway about two feet in diameter. It wasn't wet but it was sticky. The spot was close to the front of the car on the passenger side. It was rainy today so I was unable to check the coolant level.

 

[MelsRegal]

Get it checked before you have a major problem.

 

[SlowBoating]

Thank goodness. Much better a leak than a head gasket!

 

[Human]

I'll be looking into that soon. Maybe Thursday, maybe sometime next week. Fortunately, the coolant level in the upper reservoir is holding steady--what was on the driveway was more a stain than a puddle--and what's in there still hasn't mixed with what's in the small lower bottle. This couldn't have come at a worse time for me as I'm a college professor and this is finals week!

 

[2007LucerneCXL]

Of course not having a properly operating vehicle that gets you from point A to point B needs to be put on the back burner as other things that the vehicle gets you to and from are more important. LOL put that in a question to students as a test, any that fail they need to go and sign up for the common sense class.

 

[SlowBoating]

This couldn't have come at a worse time for me as I'm a college professor and this is finals week!

Easy solution is to do what my old law professors always did: throw the tests down the stairwell and grade based on distance!

 

[Human]

I've been checking the coolant level every couple of days and keeping the remainder of that jug I bought in the trunk, just in case, but some five weeks later, the coolant level has remained steady in the upper reservoir and the yellow 'mixes with anything' coolant has never mixed with the orange in in the smaller bottle down below. No more overheating issues either, even though it's been hellishly hot this past week.

It annoys me that the instrument panel doesn't include a temperature gauge. The V6 version apparently has one in the spot where the hybrids like mine have that useless "Eco" gauge.