Hello all,

This post is regarding a 2004 Mitsubishi Outlander XLS (2-wheel drive).

This is my first time posting here and also the first time this car gives me any sort of trouble in the last 3 years. I'd like to explain what happened and hopefully get some pointers as to what to check as I like to any repairs myself when possible. I'll be sure to post the solution once I do figure everything out. I'm going to try to attach videos (if this is possible) and also would like to give a disclaimer that this post may get lengthy for the sake of thoroughness

Last time after I exited the freeway, I noticed smoke starting to come out of the hood and when I looked down at the temperature gauge it was on the last mark, as hot as can be. I pulled over, turned off the engine, and opened the hood. Coolant had spilled everywhere (air duct, top of engine, top of radiator). At first sight, it doesn't appear that there was any oil spilled, simply coolant. The radiator was NOT hot to the touch and neither was the cap, I was able to open it right away and nothing spewed out. The radiator was empty. I filled the radiator back with water and then the reservoir (which still had a bit of coolant, thought it was now low) and turned on the engine. Fans went on right away.

I then drove it about 30 minutes and for most of the ride the temperature was able to stay constant though it was heating up from time to time (ironically, more so as the car was moving than idling). At the end of that right again the temperature reached its maximum and the car started smoking so I was forced to stop. In this moment I also noticed that the engine was rattling. When opened the hood, again radiator was not that hot and was empty, but reservoir tank was full. I let the car sit overnight.

So today during daytime I started my diagnosis work (all this had happened at 1AM early that night). As far as I can tell there are a few issues. For one, once car is at operating temperature coolant is leaking out of the radiator as high pressure steam (I confirmed this). It quickly empties the radiator and then the car keeps heating (though again, never completely on its own at idle, it needs to be driven to reach maximum). This to me makes sense since the radiator does not get hot as it stops circulating coolant when it is all gone. Also, the coolant reservoir never goes down, it has remained full since I filled it yesterday. Could this be due to the radiator leak? Is it pulling air instead of pulling from the reservoir? On a side note, all other fluids and fluid levels seem OK (except off course coolant that doesn't stay in radiator).

Now for the most troubling bit. When the car starts heats up there is a rather noisy engine rattle. It only happens in gear (R and D) and not in park or neutral. It is accompanied by engine shaking and the noise seems to be coming from inside of the engine. The noise will be prominent until about 2000RPM where it will the subside. Especially alarming to me is how the car behaves when you put it in drive and press the brake when it's hot. It will auto rev (revs fluctuating on their own) from 600RPM to about 1000 RPM. This again only happens in drive and will be accompanied with the engine rattling noise and engine shaking. This doesn't happen when the engine is cold as far as I can tell. Today as I was diagnosing all this, the auto revs got so pronounced with the engine rattle that the engine stalled.

I think that's pretty much it, I'm assuming the radiator needs to be replaced and I am hoping that corrects the leak and now allows coolant to be pulled from reservoir, but is there something else? And what about engine rattle and auto revs idling in drive? Is something damaged or is this expected behavior when running an engine hot with no coolant in radiator?

Thank you all for taking the time to read this (: I appreciate any responses. I couldn't upload the videos as they were too large, but perhaps if they are needed I can upload somewhere else and share link. I did include a picture where you can see all the dried coolant everywhere.

 

I'm experiencing the same symptoms. Did you ever find out what the issue was?

Andy

 

Head gasket gone almost for sure. These engines cannot be overheated with impunity.