I have a 2005 Ford Escape. While driving to work the other day i began to smell an unusual smell coming from what i assumed to be under my hood. I exited the highway and as i came to a stop i noticed what appeared to be either white smoke or steam coming from ynder the hood near the passenger side of the car. The temperature gage was normal so i continued a short distance to find a parking spot and as soon as i pulled in the engine shut off. I attempted to crank the car again and it started right up without a problem. I popped the hood and couldn’t really see any obvious problems other than the white smoke/steam. No obvious leak stains on the ground underneath the car either. The car still cranks with no issue though, what could the problem be???
Dry radiator , head gasket failure , leaking coolant hose all of which will need to be accessed by a mechanic because if you are asking here I assume you can’t repair this yourself.
what could leak?
cracked radiator tank?
water pump?
radiator hose?
coolant/heater hoses?
start with rubber stuff. than plastic.
look for wetness. anything look wet inside engine bay?
grab radiator hoses and squeeze them or try to twist them. clamps like to pinch them
It could be the water outlet too. The gasket in my Focus ruptured internally earlier this year and we couldn’t tell by looking at it from the outside until we took it out. How’s the coolant level in the radiator (only test when the radiator is cold)?