Steam coming from around coolant tank

[rcwsr]

I got home from work today and opened the bonnet to check on another issue, but noticed a lot of steam coming from around the coolant tank. I turned the car off after leaving it to run for a few mins. I came back a bit later and got the car warmed up again - same thing.

3rd time I went out and tried again I plugged an OBD reader in to look at the coolant temp, it was around 85, it climbed quite quickly to 94, where the fan would kick in and the temp would fall. No steam though?! I'm pretty sure the fan wasn't kicking in before, so maybe the coolant got too hot?

Coolant looks a little low, is it possible there is not enough to service the engine and is getting too hot? It's pink, and I have some pink coolant in the garage, is it ok to top it up without knowing exactly what coolant is in the car? Sorry if that's a stupid question!

 

[Foxspeed]

could be a faulty coolant cap dumping pressure & causing the steam..if the expansion tank is empty then thats time to worry there is enough in there for it to still circulate & cool the engine

the "pink" stuff is usually o-a-t type coolant with the blue / green being ethylene glycol or propolyene glycol

 

[rcwsr]

Thanks, definitely not empty but on the low side. I'll top it up tomorrow and see it steams again

 

[onslow]

Thanks, definitely not empty but on the low side. I'll top it up tomorrow and see it steams again

Digging up an old thread but did anything happen with this? Mine has just started doing the same thing and wondered if you got to the bottom of it?

 

[Harrymarchant]

Did anyone get to the bottom of this?