Besides brake pulsation my daughter's 2000 Alero coupe with 3.4L engine exhibited peculiar cooling system behavior yesterday following a long trip from North Carolina. I noticed a small puddle of coolant under the machine which she had not seen.
She mentioned that the low coolant level light had flashed on briefly just a few miles from her destination, but the temperature gauge was normal and there was no recurrence of the low level indication for the remainder of the trip.
There was a steady drip of coolant on the ground, but it was impossible to figure out where it had exited the system. Ran to Advance and got some DexCool to fill it up. Took about half a gallon. Gave the daughter my Aurora and drove the Alero home to investigate further today.
Lo and behold. There is no trace of a leak anywhere now. There is evidence that the belt had been slinging coolant far and wide because the hood liner is damp above the belt path and the fire wall pad in line with the belt is also damp.
Ran the machine at idle for a while. No leaks apparent. Used air pressure to apply about 20 psig to the system. No leaks apparent, and the pressure cap relieved at about 18-19 psig. Should have been 15 psig but gauge accuracy is unknown. System held air pressure. Nothing dripping anywhere.
After the aforementioned brake investigation is complete my plans are to take the machine out for a hard run in hopes of making the "leak" show itself again.
Do you have any ideas on what might have temporarily opened up on this thing?