03 with 213,000 miles I was at a traffic light and smelled coolant car did not overheat looking under the hood there were splashes of coolant with the car idling could not determine where it was coming from the expansion tank was empty Drove car home aprox 8 miles no overheating pulled into my garage left car running and looked under hood there was a little more coolant splash and the expansion tank was almost full left it idle and watched the coolant recede in about 2 min the elec fans came on at that time as it was just sitting there idling does not appear that any hoses are leaking I am baffled An add this morning, I have been running the car for about an hour, all seems fine, From where the coolant was I believe the expansion tank overflowed any Reason for that?

 

It's imperative that you locate the leak. For a situation where you cannot ID it readily, you can lift the car, dry all of the areas that have moisture of any kind and spray those areas with spray talcum powder. You can then turn on the motor and observe where the leak first originates by watching for the talcum to stain.

 

If it helps:
​​​​​​​I had a leak and was stumped. I pushed a line out of the way to look at the head and the line I pushed out of the way hissed. The leak was I'n the line I moved. After I pulled the hose I discovered it was hard a s a rock and I could literally sanp it into one inch pieces.​​​​​​​ In short, check your lines to see if any are hardened. Also, when it's hot, pull and wiggle all the lines. Cheap and easy way to see if your lines are old and cracked.

 

replace your radiator cap.

 

I had a leak this week as well on my 2004, it never overheated. We traced the leak to this (very, very small) opening on the hose. I wouldn't drive the car until you identify the leak, you should probably check if coolant came into contact with any belts as well (you can change them or just clean them). Check for the smallest of hoses, this small hole made a mess with the coolant in my engine bay.