A few days after I get back to Denver, I tell my son to fill it with water and drive it over. After all, just a couple years ago I had the water pump replaced by the best mechanic in town (for these cars).
I find out a burned-out headlight bulb was what triggered the SES. With the air filter box on, you couldn't see where the coolant leak was, but remove it and obviously there's a leak at the water outlet.....
Since that's only a $15.00 part, we'll just put that in, see how it goes....
Well, 2 weeks so far, no loss of coolant, nothing to indicate a head gasket issue, and the water pump obviously works.
It probably does need a coolant flush, because when sitting in stop-and-go traffic for several minutes, the temp goes high enough to kick on the fans. The temps drop quickly to normal, but still, it's Winter time now, should run cooler
