brought new car home from the dealership on a cool night and due to circumstances was unable to use it for a week. went for a 20 mile spin on a warmer 70 degree day. car ran great, gentle drive. idled it in the driveway for a minute or two then parked it. found a small amount of red liquid where it was idling and it appeared to be dexcool. opened hood and found coolant bubbling in coolant bottle with a hose coming out near the cap on the bottle and following it down through a clamp it ended down near the framerail. car never overheated according to the gage. question- does this car just dump excess coolant when it gets warm like my 1968 z28? i thought everything had a closed system. any thoughts would be appreciated. due to other circumstances i have not been able to take it out since.04,a4.

Well, RED is transmission fluid, ORANGE is antifreeze (unless you have a BMW and then it's pink). Could have a reservoir overfilled. I'd check that first. If level is correct and no temp problems, I just keep an eye on the reservoir. If there is a leak, it will go down (of course).

it was definately dexcool, not dexron.

How many miles were on it upon purchase?

17 miles.

continued to get fluid out the overflow and bubbling in the bottle. took it to Wright Pontiac in wexford, pa. they discovered that the radiator cap was not holding pressure and replaced it under warranty. said it was probably due to a dried out seal from car sitting (leftover 04). they were very professional and returned the car as clean as i took it in and i am very particular. very pleased. pontiac threw in a free oil change and i took back the original filter(pf46). all in all a surprisely nice experience. no further problems.

correction to last post, an acpf44 came off the car. an acpf46 was installed.