Possible Coolant Leak

Refill the coolant tank and put a bottle of GM's Florescent Coolant Dye. When the coolant leaks out again - and it will - you'll see residue from the dye. This will help you pinpoint the leak.

Check the hose that returns to the coolant tank. This has been a spot that breaks easy.. It leaks slowly until it completely breaks. I had exact areas with fluid you have.

Before you check it have something to stop the fluid if it breaks in your hand. I had to put a large screw in until I got a replacement hose.

Why is your coolant green? I thought the right stuff for the Cruze was orange?

johnnydicamillo said:

Interesting, I found the majority if not almost all the coolant residue on the engine mount? near the bottom of the radiator fan. See attached.

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Dexcool is red. The A/C refrigerant is green.

obermd said:

Dexcool is red. The A/C refrigerant is green.

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Yep, you've got a freon leak - it has a flourescent dye in the system to make leaks easy to spot. Sadly, a rock punching a hole in the AC condensor seems to happen quite often with these cars.

Now wait I second, I just put the coolant florescent dye in a day ago and that's when that showed up, so I think it is actually a coolant leak, unless my freon is leaking too.

johnnydicamillo said:

Now wait I second, I just put the coolant florescent dye in a day ago and that's when that showed up, so I think it is actually a coolant leak, unless my freon is leaking too.

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Ah ok. It's the exact color of the AC stuff, but yeah, you probably wouldn't see that there.

The GM coolant dye is red/orange and makes dexcool turn a muddy red color. Your leak is green - you have an A/C Freon leak. You may also have a coolant leak based on the first set of pictures but that last picture is definitely Freon. I had a Freon explosion in my Montana and the entire engine bay was bright green.

johnnydicamillo said:

Interesting, I found the majority if not almost all the coolant residue on the engine mount? near the bottom of the radiator fan. See attached.

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If that's passenger side, we could be looking at water pump.

If driver's side, there's a complex of hoses and the plastic engine coolant outlet that's suspect.

johnnydicamillo said:

I am not typically the argumentative type, but unless the tech put the wrong thing in, it turned my coolant green. See the photo of my tank attached.

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Very definitely not the right color for dexcool. I can't even begin to guess what would turn dexcool green so I would guess you have the old style coolant in there.

I am starting to question if it was the correct dye; Only turns green when the dye was put into it. The coolant is Prestone G.M Dex cool approved antifreeze/coolant. Anyways, back to the task at hand, the leak spots are happening on the drivers side. I am thinking about placing a mini camera down there over night. In fact, I am thinking I should flush it.

johnnydicamillo said:

I am starting to question if it was the correct dye; Only turns green when the dye was put into it. The coolant is Prestone G.M Dex cool approved antifreeze/coolant. Anyways, back to the task at hand, the leak spots are happening on the drivers side. I am thinking about placing a mini camera down there over night. In fact, I am thinking I should flush it.

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Now you understand why I thought that was freon and not dexcool.

Dexcool is the marketing brand for GM. You can use the green color since they now are all the same. Go to any auto store and they state right on the jug works for all types. There might be few exotic cars that use a different type but green or red doesn't matter like it use too. However the change interval does change if you do this.

More than likely that was a dye. But from your earlier pics you have a leak somewhere.

cruze2011white said:

Dexcool is the marketing brand for GM. You can use the green color since they now are all the same. Go to any auto store and they state right on the jug works for all types. There might be few exotic cars that use a different type but green or red doesn't matter like it use too.

Makes me wonder though why its that green though?

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I have a jug of Prestone Dexcool and it's orange.

The jug I also have is red/orange, just on the jugs at store says it works for both. However it does lower the change interval.

Just to clarify the coolant in the jug is orange. When I put the florescent dye in, it turned green.