Coolant Bubbling Up. Bad Seal? (searched)
08-05-07, 09:48 AM
#1
Coolant Bubbling Up. Bad Seal? (searched)
The car is a 1982 S. Stock engine, new 3 row radiator, new hoses, coolant changed once a year.
Yesterday I took it for a nice drive, revved it up and all. Then last night I notice the coolant overflow tank is almost, well, overflowing. I figure it's the radiator cap or the hose to the bottle is faulty, and I'll investigate those when I get home. I noticed some drops of coolant on top of the radiator some days ago, so I thought it was the same problem.
I search in this forum and see something about coolant seals going bad, so I start the car with the rad cap off. When I read I should see "champagne bubbles" I'm thinking foamy, small bubbles. However, i see big bubbles, and the coolant rising. This is after about 2 hours since turning off the engine.
Video (400K)
If I squeeze the top hose, the level rises then falls below where it was before with more bubbles.
The coolant is "pure green". No oil in it and doesn't smell like gas. There's no steam out the back on start up, nor is there any coolant coming out of anywhere else in the engine bay, not on top of the engine, etc. For now, it starts up every time.
I've never over heated the car, although I've only had it for 2 years. The temp gauge never passed the halfway mark, and since I installed the new radaitor it never gets to the halfway mark.
Diagnosis? I think it might be a bad seal, but I've been panicky about the engine before.
Edit: Before the joy ride, I noticed a drop or two of green coming from the cap. When I bought the rad, the cap wouldn't go on easily, so I bent the lip of the top so it would. thinking I did it too loosely I did more bending and made it even tighter. Could this have "over-pressurized" the system causing a bust? I just did it so it would screw on securely, using small pliers, no huge bending just little tweaks.
Yesterday I took it for a nice drive, revved it up and all. Then last night I notice the coolant overflow tank is almost, well, overflowing. I figure it's the radiator cap or the hose to the bottle is faulty, and I'll investigate those when I get home. I noticed some drops of coolant on top of the radiator some days ago, so I thought it was the same problem.
I search in this forum and see something about coolant seals going bad, so I start the car with the rad cap off. When I read I should see "champagne bubbles" I'm thinking foamy, small bubbles. However, i see big bubbles, and the coolant rising. This is after about 2 hours since turning off the engine.
Video (400K)
If I squeeze the top hose, the level rises then falls below where it was before with more bubbles.
The coolant is "pure green". No oil in it and doesn't smell like gas. There's no steam out the back on start up, nor is there any coolant coming out of anywhere else in the engine bay, not on top of the engine, etc. For now, it starts up every time.
I've never over heated the car, although I've only had it for 2 years. The temp gauge never passed the halfway mark, and since I installed the new radaitor it never gets to the halfway mark.
Diagnosis? I think it might be a bad seal, but I've been panicky about the engine before.
Edit: Before the joy ride, I noticed a drop or two of green coming from the cap. When I bought the rad, the cap wouldn't go on easily, so I bent the lip of the top so it would. thinking I did it too loosely I did more bending and made it even tighter. Could this have "over-pressurized" the system causing a bust? I just did it so it would screw on securely, using small pliers, no huge bending just little tweaks.
*sobs*
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