Confusing cooling system problem

Been having some trouble with my SC for the past few days. A few days ago the VMM indicated low coolant. When I parked I saw that the car was still leaking coolant, and a lot of it. I dipped my hand in the puddle and felt that the coolant that was leaking was completely cold. The car at the time was at operating temperature as I had just made a 20 minute trip. The temp gauge was reading right on the 'N' just as it usually does. When I opened the hood I also saw that there was coolant all over the engine bay. I could not tell where it was leaking from. Im not sure if it was leaking under pressure, or it was just being thrown around by the belts. But when I added more coolant it just poured right out. It was dark and I could not tell where it was coming from, but I do not think it was coming from the water pump or from any of the hoses. On a side note: The car must have been much hotter than normal, because when I shut it down I could hear it "ticking" like it was cooling down. Yet the temp gauge was normal. Where could this cold coolant be leaking from?

Hoses, T-Stat, rad cap were replaced mid summer, and the radiator was flushed at the same time

The car is parked now and will likely stay that way for a while as I don't have the money to take it to a mechanic. If it was just a few parts I could replace to get it back on the road that would be great.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jeff

Get a flashlight and look around. It could be coming from several places for several reasons. Please narrow it down a little.

David

You could try and put your hand under the water pump, there is a small hole there that it could be leaking from.If not to the left hand side of the water pump there is a short hose(about 4in )which connects to a metal tube and runs under the engine.These are common places for leaks.

I agree with Dave our cars have so many cooling lines. It could be coming from about 7 hoses tat I can think of righ off the top of my head. Our lines are hard to find for our cars too. The heater hoses in the bak of the motor are the only ones that I think are still available. the ones down low by the oil cooler I believe have been discontinued. If it is those you will need to engineer something.

Take a look

Check the overflow tank! There is a nipple (heh, heh) on the underside of the tanks (93 for sure, don't know about other years) that fits into a receiver on the channel. If the tank has been jostled around at all this piece can easily snap off. It is right on a seam on the bottle. A bit of epxoy will fix it right up. Pulling the tank is fairly straight forward but be carefull, it may be a bit brittle. If I remember right, the airbox and hose was all that had to come off to make things really easy to get at. I was in the same situation and as I crawled under the car is was tough to tell where it was all coming from but a gentle push on the overflow tank sent the rest of the tanks contents spilling out onto the garage floor. I hope for your sake this is the culprit...sure is a cheap fix...let us know what you find.

Anthony

p.s. Also check the hose going from the overflow to the rad.

Thank you very much for the replies. My car is not here right now so I can't look at it to give any better information. But I think that the last reply could be the answer. When I changed my spark plugs a few weeks ago I pulled the overflow tank out, to get to the passenger side front plug. Especially since the car is leaking cold coolant I think this could definitely be it. Thanks again. I'll check on it this weekend.

Jeff