Engine bay "steaming"?

[kitty_kitty]

Got into my nova this morning, drove for about 10 minutes to get to work (nothing exsessive), pulled up out side work, got out of the car and noticed a reasonable amount of white "steam" coming from the front centre of the car. I opened the bonet and it seemed to fade. it was coming out of the front grill and gaps at the front of the bonet.

I know its hard because you cant look at it, but does any one have any ideas what it might be?

Thanks
Cathy

[Chris]

It was either Water on the radiator if it was raining or it is the radiator leaking, make sure you keep checking your water levels (not when warm though)

Chris

[PrimaNova]

yeah i've seen steam cummin outta mine as well sometimes. no idea y tho...

[raza]

was driving my mums car the other day poxy fiesta and the temp aguge went rite up to the red line ! and car started smoking not one drop of water in the bottle =\ phoned her up and told her she was like dint no u had to put water in it ;\ i was like wtf u have been driving 20 years she said i dont no other people do it ;\ daft cow ;\ had to walk and fillup a bottle out the boot so i could get home good job i was close to a garage at the time :|

[CP]

It could be a number of things - most likely:
1. If it was raining a lot and you just gone thru big puddles and stuff just before you stopped it could be just water splashing onto the exahust.
2. If you are losing coolant - check when cold! then you may have a leak somewhere - this is usually a radiator hose but can be also heater hoses if at the back of the engine bay. Sometimes they split in an obvious place other times they just leak a little next to the clips that hold them on. The clips themsleves sometimes fail.

best to keep drivin and keep checkin to see if it gets worse or if its a problem only in certain circumstances - should more easy to work out in dry conditions