2010 Hyndai Santa Fe started yesterday not today
Asked by babs9079 Oct 04, 2015 at 03:44 PM about the 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Car worked perfectly fine yesterday but today the car made a grinding sound
while attempting to start and would not start. The Malfunction Indicator Lamp
light came on as well. Further inspection under the hood revealed the radiator
cap was missing. I did not see any coolant around the area but I am sure that
is what caused the problem. What damage could this have caused?
4 Answers
Fill the radiator, look for leaks,,,, then figure out how the cap was removed because you may have very serious damage ~ if you find who left it off you may get reimbursed
Sadly I think I am the culprit of leaving the cap off (I am extremely busy with a lot on my mind and always on the go). The coolant level seems almost exactly where I left it. (It is the overflow lid that was missing). So this is why I am confused because I do not see coolant spills anywhere and the level looks OK.
I don't understand .. once the engine gets to operating temp the coolant will normally expand and run out if the cap is off but you are saying it wasn't the radiator cap it was the recovery tank. All that does is to return any coolant that may have came from the engine back to the engine ... leaving that cap off is no big deal. Are you sure that your battery is OK? Turn on the headlights,,, do they look dim? Is the grinding noise more like a rapid series of clicks? If that's what you are hearing then I suspect your battery is shot
Tom, thanks for the reply. Yup it was the battery. It must have had just enough juice to make the grinding sound but not enough to actually make it turn over. New battery and good to go. Thanks for your help.
