Water standing on passagers side, drove about 50 miles low coolant light came on running fine and heater seems to be working

Hey Tyler,

Your posting does not indicate if you have a good clean mixture of antifreeze coolant in your heat & cool exchanger ( ie. radiator ), this valuable component of the vehicle coolant & heating system alway's need's a good supply of 50% water to 50% antifreeze which is under pressure and could hurt you or anyone standing too close to your vehice in question.

Purchase the anti-freeze in either full mixture (100%) or 50% water 50% anti-freeze just about anywhere out there with a vehicle repair isle.
Personally speaking I mix 50% water 50% anti-freeze since this is much cheaper than buying the already 50% water to 50% anti-freeze simply due to economic reasons.
After filling this radiator container, remember to alway's follow your vehicle manufacture's safety guidelines, remember there are many moving parts in the engine compartment that could hurt you or people standing around your vehicle while the engine is running.

Hope this helps!

if you are using coolant that is mixed 50-50 with water, the water will evaporate. If you are having issues and using straight antifreeze without a water mixture, you may have a small coolant leak or a small leak in the head gasket.

first of all, was the water on the passenger side from the air conditioner or a leak (what color was the fluid?)-the cap has to be tight, otherwise it will not hold pressure, so that has to be checked before you set off again-push down as you turn the cap clockwise, and it will not hurt to have water in the system (it actually transfers heat better than antifreeze) but it has a much lower boiling point, so the cap has to be tight. Pay attention to the temperature gauge and do NOT overheat it-it is an aluminum engine and they do not tolerate excessive heat. Take your time, no AC (although the AC being on can keep a good cooling system more stable since the radiator fan is forced on when the AC is running, so you can, within reason, experiment)-no matter what, just don't let it run hot-not worth it.

check water pump

kinda has a funny smell

Does the speedo work? Speed senser

make sure your antifreeze or coolant isnt mixing with your oil it would be gead gasket and also check your thermostat

You need to find the source of the leak. it hasn't overheated yet because you keep catching it and re-filling. From your description, it sounds a lot like a bad water pump seal (part of pump) but without physically looking you can't be sure of that. when the pump seal begins to fail, internal pressure while running often will drive the seal tighter against the shaft stopping the leak. as pressure drops as the engine cools, the seal relaxes and permits seepage.
With time, that will change and it will leak all the time.

check the low coolant level sensor, could be in the plastic coolant tank or the radiator itself

When an engine is overheating and then the temp drops on the guage, it's usually a sign that the coolant is not touching the temp sensor. There's no coolant in the engine. Putting water in the overflow tank won't solve this. Take the radiator cap off after the engine cools and put coolant in the radiator. you might have to crank the engine and do this several times, as the engine can develop air pockets that won't allow the coolant to travel inside the engine. If you don't see any leaks, and it still uses coolant, you've probably got a blown head gasket. Check for water on the plugs, check cylinder compression. If it slowly uses coolant, try putting a large box of pepper in the radiator or some of that radiator seal copper flakes.