I own a 2008 Chevy HHR and recently I've been having problems with keeping coolant in it. When I first noticed the problem, we couldn't find any leaks anywhere. Yesterday while driving my kids to school the heater wasn't working at all and the car was up to normal temp. When I was almost home from dropping them off, the car's temp got just above the halfway mark and the heater finally started working due to the engine being so hot. When I got home I noticed that there was finally a puddle where the car was usually parked. When I got out of the car it took a couple seconds for the fan to shut off, and I know it's due to the engine being so hot. It did it when I first started having problems keeping the coolant level up. When I looked under the car to see where it was leaking from, I noticed a piece that's shaped like an "L" and it was leaking around the edges of it. I have been trying to find out what that piece is and I can't seem to find out. A couple people that I've showed the picture to says it's the water pan, but the liquid that was leaking out was dark. Couldn't tell if it was oil or coolant or just filthy water.

 

The L shaped part is the transmission oil pan. Could be a trans fluid leak or a coolant leak. Trans fluid would be reddish, coolant would be greenish or orangish.

You need to get to a mechanic very soon to identify the problem. There is a high probability of severe damage, but it could be something easy. People who say things like "water pan" are more useless than somebody on the internet.

 

Could you possibly tell me what the "L" shaped piece is?? I have an appointment set for Monday morning.

 

As Don states it's the transmission fluid pan.

The coolant would be blowing back on the pan from somewhere off the engine, like the water pump or a head gasket leak

 

You need to set the DIC(Driver Information Center) to "coolant temp". Look in your owners manual for info if you don't know how. There is a link in donbrew's signature if you don't have a manual. Like don said, be prepared for potentially severe damage, since your analog temp gauge went so high. It usually doesn't move above it's "normal" position until it gets really hot.

 

Sentence #1 in post #2. I did.

 

From the way you describe the problem, I'd guess a head gasket/cracked head issue...coolant loss with no visible leak generally means it's getting out through the combustion chamber...in the early stages it can be very slight loss...
Unfortunately that's a costly fix.

 

I just went through something similar, and it was a radiator cap. Cheap replacement. At 137K, I realize anything can happen, but this was a cold weather surprise.

 

Remember to start with the simplest solution first! X2 on the coolant rad cap leak as I had the same issue a while ago. Although cars seems to have become more computerized and complicated at the face of it, deep down you gotta realize they are still just machines and are more simple than you might think.