Going through a drive-thru last night, I noticed that my temperature gauge was pegged and red. Not long after that, I began to smell coolant and steam billowed from around the hood. I got it pushed through and parked, checked the reservoir to find it empty, and tried to identify where the leak was. I have an aftermarket metal expansion tank, but the coolant seemed to be evaporating from around the exhaust area up and around the heat shield. I believe that both of my fans are operational, although I did remove the power steering fan as part of a power steering delete. I've only had this vehicle for about a week ('03, ~130k), and this is the first time I've run into this. I suspect the thermostat or housing may have failed, causing the reservoir to boil over, although I don't know enough about these cars to make a diagnosis yet. I will take a look this evening after work to see if I can track down the leak. Also, I was able to drive it around 15 miles home, albeit by removing the expansion tank cap.

 

I recently had to replace a coolant hose that routed from the expansion tank to a heater line. It was a hose that routed near the power steering reservoir. I ended up replacing it with a 4 ply silicone hose I had laying about.
Might be worth checking, but then again, it could be a bunch of things. The joys of a 16 year old car

Just pop the hood open, fill with distilled water, run the engine, see where it leaks out.

 

Took another look and found the culprit. The four-way distribution piece has a hairline fracture that was misting the heatshields and spraying up onto the valve cover/ strut tower. The part is on order and should arrive on Tuesday.

 

Please report back on any difficulties you encounter in replacing that 4-way junction.

 

That's not difficult to replace. It just takes time. When you say "junction", that's appropriate because a lot of others things (electrical wiring, etc.) meet at that same point. Pull the air filter/housing and you'll have the room you need. Be careful for the coolant temp sensor that's located on the block in the same area - it's easy to break off (don't ask how I know).