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  #1  
Old 06-14-2005, 09:05 PM
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Radiator caps go bad?

You learn something new every day, as they say :/

Does it seem like my questions are easier than everyone else's or what? :p

Not but 10 minutes after my last auto-x I noticed a coolant leak from a distance and found the area under the battery wet.
Checked some things... nothing out of place.
No biggy. I drove really hard, something probably got temporarily wacky.

Today, I mobbed out to an inspection, noticed coolant leaking from about where the radiator is.
Checked it out, could not find any leaks or even any wet spots aside from the oil pan, which was odd.

Drove slowly and solidly afterwards, and made an apointment with Dan the man.
We leave it running, he pops the cap off, stares at the drink for a sec, tells me to shut it off.
Shows me the radiator cap.
He says a good cap should take about 15-20 lbs of pressure to depress that spring.
He was compressing it fully and with little effort from his thumb and guarantees getting a new cap would probably fix the problem.

I never knew.

Drove home slowly, no leak.

Thoughts?
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  #2  
Old 06-14-2005, 09:28 PM
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Yea I had to replace my cap a while back and it solved my radiator leaking problem..

until a hose eventually got loose and blew coolant everywhere... then I had to fix the hose and that solved the problem...

until it started to crack by the neck....

then I changed the radiator and solved that problem....



I put new hoses and clamps on just in case
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  #3  
Old 06-14-2005, 09:53 PM
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When I went to get a 16 psi cap about a year ago, I tested it for pressure before I installed it. It bled down at about 7-8 psi. Went back to Advance, tried three more before I found a new one that actually held 16 psi.
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  #4  
Old 06-14-2005, 10:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NikFu S.

Thoughts?
Replace the cap.
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  #5  
Old 06-15-2005, 06:28 AM
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Regardless of the cap's condition, coolant forced past the cap seal under pressure should make its way to the coolant reservoir. Is your overflow reservoir absolutely full? If not, I think you'd do well to keep an eye out for a leak.

dcb
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  #6  
Old 06-15-2005, 10:33 AM
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Everything, given enough time, goes bad




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  #7  
Old 06-15-2005, 10:39 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by red95svx
Everything, given enough time, goes bad




Dave




Like my first wife.....
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  #8  
Old 06-15-2005, 11:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by svxfiles
Like my first wife.....

Don't get me started!
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  #9  
Old 06-15-2005, 03:22 PM
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What about the second?

and I'm considering a third??somebody smack me!
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  #10  
Old 06-15-2005, 07:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TE1221
Yea I had to replace my cap a while back and it solved my radiator leaking problem..
...
I put new hoses and clamps on just in case
I have a feeling if there is enough force to spew coolant from the cap my lower rad hose will burst if I replace the cap because it's pretty raggedy lookin'.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ensteele
Replace the cap.
Will do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by red95svx
Everything, given enough time, goes bad
Dave
What about wine?








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  #11  
Old 06-16-2005, 12:07 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NikFu S.
I have a feeling if there is enough force to spew coolant from the cap my lower rad hose will burst if I replace the cap because it's pretty raggedy lookin'.
Stuff like that happens. First you notice the water pump leaking, so you replace it. No big deal. Then, suddenly a radiator hose blows, so you replace the failed one and the other one just in case. Argh! It's starting to become a big deal, but you can handle it. Next you notice the radiator cap leaking, so you replace it too. No big deal, but you're starting to tear your hair out. So a week goes by and you're starting to think everything is fine - until the temperature gauge starts to climb. You get home, you check the fluid, you find it's a little low. You top it off. No big deal. Two days later, the gauge begins to rise for the second time. Hmmm... Sure enough, the fluid is low. You add fluid. No big deal - until you start wondering why bubbles are coming up from the coolant fill neck.

So the failed head gasket makes enough pressure to cause everything in the cooling system to fail one item at a time until you finally figure out what's happening. Of course, if the manufacturers designed their engines to run about ten degrees cooler, we wouldn't have to use pressurized cooling systems and none of these parts would ever fail, (except for the head gasket.) Kinda makes you wish you had an old Volkswagen.
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  #12  
Old 06-16-2005, 05:44 AM
red95svx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NikFu S.
What about wine?


If wine sat around for 5,000 years I bet it would go bad



Dave
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  #13  
Old 06-16-2005, 12:54 PM
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I don't think the rad cap is the problem.

My car did the same thing at autox last sunday. I know it's not my cap because it's new (came with radiator).

I'm thinking the clamps on my lower rad hose are not tight enough.
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  #14  
Old 06-16-2005, 07:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Earthworm
I don't think the rad cap is the problem.

My car did the same thing at autox last sunday. I know it's not my cap because it's new (came with radiator).

I'm thinking the clamps on my lower rad hose are not tight enough.
I know for fact the spill the day of the auto x came from the resevoir. There was fluid under the battery.

I am also pretty confident my lower rad hose and cap are the only things that need to be replaced though.


There's also the off chance the TB coolant bypass and T cooler bypass are making the thing run hotter, despite my temp needle reading about 40%.

I've been wondering this since I installed the tranny cooler. If we remove enough components from the circulation of coolant, those parts will be cooler, but less heat will be escaping the actual circulation.

Then I had a thought of running extra tube from the tb bypass into a small radiator or external cooler through the hood (:
which I may do
if I get a hood with a scoop :)
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