[W126 Coupe] 420 SEC coolant system problems

[Oisin Margey]

Hi everyone,
 
i'm Oisin and just joined, nice to meet you all. I'm Irish, living in
Dublin.
 
i've just got myself a beautiful 1990 420SEC, 76k FMBSH and
unfortunately am having problems already !
 
Yesterday after being out for a run for about an hour i started hearing
a slooshing / churning kind of a noise which
seemed to be coming from the area in front of the driver, i could only
hear it while stopped at traffic lights,junctions etc.
 
At this point the temperature guage was at around 40-50 degrees, the oil
pressure was at the top of the guage at 3, so i think normal 
for both of these.
 
When i got the car home i sat and listened to it for a few minutes with
the driver's door open. Next thing steam starts
escaping from the corner of the bonnet by the driver's wing mirror and
through the hinge area of the open door, then
a liquid started pouring onto the ground from, what appeared to be under
the driver's door, the liquid was green and i 
believe it is the anti-freeze.  Thinking about it now the churning noise
could have been a boiling sound. 
 
I let it cool for an hour or so and brought some water to fill the head
tank for the radiator. ( i think this is the correct name ).
 
It filled up but if i waited a few minutes i could always put a little
more in, looking through the plastic tank it seemed to be about 3/4
full.
 
This morning the water level in this tank had dropped to about 1/4 or
less.
 
The car itself has only done about 5k in the last 5 years but has just
had a service with new plugs, leads etc. I'm hoping
this is just some hosing or other consumable which may have perished
over time due to the car not being used regularly. 
 
Any ideas ? Do you think it'll be safe for me to drive as far as a
mechanic ? 
 
thanks
 
Oisin
 
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