[kilted]

Last week I drove from Nashville to Cincinnati. It was a cool, drizzly to rainy day, not much traffic but several construction zones and the rain kept my speed on this trip reasonable low. At one point traffic came to a stop for a few minutes and I notice what looks like steam coming out of the front of my car. I check the coolant temp display and it looks normal and so I assume that rain must be hitting the radiator and creating the steam or something similar. After a short time traffic starts moving and I pull into a rest area. I sit in the parking spot with the engine running for a few minutes and see no further steam coming out of the front of my car.

So was it rain hitting the radiator or is something else causing this?

 

[elmosisu]

Really sounds like steam coming from rain hitting the radiator. Pretty common on many vehicles

 

[1stiski]

Really sounds like steam coming from rain hitting the radiator. Pretty common on many vehicles

^^^^^ I concur .

 

[ComebackKid]

I agree with them^ I've washed my smart after it's up to temp and sprayed water on the grill creating steam from the radiator.

 

[kilted]

Thanks everyone.
This is what I thought but I wanted to see if anyone agreed.

 

[vadsoom]

If you want to test this out, get your car up to operating temperature and run through a car wash to look for steam. It's a comfort knowing the theories are correct.