Coolant leaking

[isj17]

So I know the title is bland but here it is. Today I went to my car and saw my leaked coolant which was confusing after it did 800 mile round trip and everything seemed fine. I looked inside the reservoir and saw the minimal amount of fluid so I got some distilled water to top it off just to get to a mechanic. As I was pouring it in nothing was leaking, no hoses or the reservoir so I drove it around and everything seemed normal. I parked it back and something didn't sit right so I took the cap off and water spewed out (didn't get burned though). Is that normal or should I try and bleed the coolant before taking it in?

The reservoir was replaced in 2015.

[dworthy]

Welcome to the Forum!

Well first off you should never open a radiator cap while the car is hot. You have to give it an hour before removing the cap, otherwise you will get the coolant geyser.

How big was the puddle? Where was it located under the car? Do you have all the belly plates?

When the car gets really hot, but not overheated, it can push some of the coolant out the cap as it is only rated at 2.1 bar or about 30 psi.

[isj17]

Thank you

*I know realizing that now it was a rookie move. So the puddle was hard to tell because it was at my schools parking garage so it had a tilt but it wasn't bad. But my guess maybe is the where the reservoir cap was.
*The weird thing was is that when I checked it the first time where there was a small puddle the coolant was next to nothing so I added the distilled water as I stated above and made that mistake. But then filled it back up with fluid (blue fluid). Since then I have had no issues. I check under my car to see if any leak has occurred and I see no puddles. There is no white smoke when I drive so I know its not in the oil.
*I literally have no idea what happened.

I'm open to suggestions due to the fact I go to this site first for a diagnosis and 98% thats the issue with my car so I trust everyones opinions.

[dworthy]

The easiest way to find coolant leaks is to look for the white snail trails left behind. If you don't have anything, or cannot find some keep looking. The other way to find coolant leaks is to get the system warm, then apply pressure using a special cap. This will act like the system is under pressure and push the coolant out at the weakest point, normally pro's will have this tool.

I ask for the location of the puddle to make sure it wasn't the A/C runoff, as some folks get this confused with coolant.

[isj17]

I get what you're saying about the A/C runoff but was I saw a faint blue color I knew that was mine. But I will continue to monitor it and look for the white snail trail the next couple of days to see if anything comes about. Thanks for replying.