White steam

[mrsw]

On my way to work today, I got about 3 miles from home and saw white steam coming from under the hood (ok, bonnet). After about a minute it stopped. WHAT might this be from? Temp. gauge normal, no lights on. I looked under the hood, but I don't see anything abnormal (not that I would necessarily recognize it). My coolant reservoir looks to be at the max. (green color), maybe a little over I see miniscule spots around the screw on top and 2 small drops on the silver plate underneath, but that's it. Everything else is CLEAN. I only have about 450 miles on the car so far.

I was turning the auto. a/c off/on trying to find out how it works. I also washed the car yesterday. I was wondering if either of those factors might have contributed to the steam somehow.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[eltel]

I think it's ok. Everytime I wash my car, if the engine's hot, then some water gets into the bonnet scoop and hits the intercooler, thus you get a small plume of water vapour coming out of the scoop. It should go away after a while. Can also occur in rainy conditions.

Part of the fun of owning an MCS.

[dco43054]

If you are driving an MCS, you certainly will see steam coming from the "snout" - or a "Dragon Snort" as someone aptly described it. It happens especially in rain, or after you've washed it. Hot intercooler + moisture = steam. That is nothing to be concerned about, and pretty neat to boot.

If you are driving an MC, might be a problem. No intercooler to produce steam.

Dave

[chiph]

Yep. Dragon snort - nothing to worry about.

But keep an eye on the coolant overflow tank - they tend to leak around the seam.

Chip H.

[Robert Moreau]

Sometimes water get in to the hood scoop and some finds it's way on to the intercooler. Let's out a little puff of steam. No worries though.

[mrsw]

Thanks all for your replies. I feel more confident now. It never occurred to me that this might be normal behavior for my MCS!

[swamos]

And it looks really cool tooo

[gscooter49]

What next - Somebody's going to install little !Flame Jets to give a full Dragon's fire effect.

Wouldn't that be quite a site with matching paint job to match! Puff The MINI Dragon !

Motor On

[swamos]

Quote:

Originally posted by gscooter49
What next - Somebody's going to install little !Flame Jets to give a full Dragon's fire effect.

Wouldn't that be quite a site with matching paint job to match! Puff The MINI Dragon !

Motor On

Check the exterior forum, someone probably already done it