Turned off my car today and heard boiling/bubble sounds while in the cabin. Opened the hood and saw coolant residue all over the engine bay. Coolant level in the reservoir was low and the foam between the radiator and radiator support beam was soaked. In addition, I saw coolant on the top trailing along the entire length of the radiator.
Any suggestions on what to do?

 

Find the leak, which is probably on the upper plastic endtank of your radiator. Then if so, buy a new radiator.

 

Make sure its not the cap. Ive had them go bad on this car before. The rubber gaskets dont last forever.

 

yea, I will definitely be getting a new radiator cap. Judging from the photo and how the coolant residue looks on the intake arm and upper radiator hose, it seems like its all pointing towards the coolant reservoir though? Any thoughts? Could the reservoir be the problem?

 

Its not a pressurized part of the system, so dont know why it would be the issue. If you are overheating for some other reason, then pressure could be pushed out through the reservoir. But thats not the reservoirs fault.

 

Do you have a vented hood?

 

negative on the vented hood.
I ruled out the reservoir because I found some more coolant residue on the hood prop facing away from the reservoir.
Right now, I believe it really is the radiator because when I opened my hood today after driving it for a while, the fan housing was completely wet and smoke was also coming off the housing and radiator. My guess is the top plastic part of the radiator that runs lengthwise that is leaking. In addition, when I turn on the heater to the max, Im getting inconsistent heat. Sometimes it will be hot then it'll turn to cool/warm then back to hot. Could it also be my thermostat? two different system failed together sounds a little bit odd though..

 

When your radiator spewed coolant some of that space was replaced with air. I wouldn't drive the car at all with the problems you're having, you could damage the engine.

Can you not see coolant coming out with the engine running? Shouldn't be too hard to find the culprit.

 

And like he said, stop driving it.

 

I think you just have a hole in the hose between the cap and the reservoir. Looks like a cheap fix.