coolant leak?

[mixwhit]

I changed out the brake pads this eve and took it for a drive to bed. When I got home I noticed a smell that might have been coolant. I popped the hood and found some white residue in a splatter pattern on the left side of the engine. It looks like it's coming from the area of the intake manifold, but hard to tell. Looking at what I think is the top of the water pump, I could see a bit of liquid (not much, just a tiny bit) there.

I started the engine back up and watched but couldn't see anything leaking anywhere.

So 2.5 hours later I went out and took a look at the coolant reservoir. Empty.

Then I looked in the radiator, and I can't see any coolant in there either. Shouldn't I be able to see some there?

I'll wait until it completely cools down to be sure, but I'm getting a bit freaked. There certainly wasn't any puddle or any drips at all on the garage floor.

To add more, I add it to the reservoir first, or directly in the radiator cap? If in the radiator, how full should it be?

thanks

 

[mixwhit]

a little follow-up.

i'm not sure what i'm looking at is the water pump.

if you follow the large hose that leads off the right side of the radiator, loops around the oil fill hole and then into a black dome type thing, this is where i saw some liquid. and there is plenty of white residue here too. the black dome housing also has a couple electrical connectors going into it and another smaller diameter hose that looks like maybe it heads off to the heater. is this the water pump? from looking at parts online it looks like the water pump is the part below that, probably driven by the pulley that also turns the fan?

thanks

 

[mixwhit]

I can now see where it's coming from in general, but it's hard to see specifically what is going on because of where it is. Here's a couple photos. The green arrows point to the location in which coolant squirts out when I get on the throttle:

I presume the square thing to the left in which the upper radiator hose attaches is the thermostat housing. What is this piece below it? Maybe it's the gasket for this piece? I'm talking about the piece with two electrical connectors going into it and a hose that goes back to the heater.

I'm just not sure what to try and replace here. Presuming it's the gasket for this housing, can it be swapped without removing the intake manifold that hangs over it?

Any help appreciated.

thx!