ok heres the deal last week i was driving the car and my radiator busted all the coolant came out and the car shut off (already was having driveability issues) its an 87 turbo and just to give you guys an idea but here is my issue i pick up a radiator s5 from a buddy and i put it it now the radiator has the neck with the nipple on it for the overflow tank and so does the filler neck on the engine so i have the overflow tank hose on the filler neck on the engine and when the car reaches operating temp. the coolant starts to come out of the overflow tank and i mean a lot of it......now i checked the oil and the oil seems fine there is only a small puff of smoke that comes out when cold and then it stops so my question is...are my water seals bad or is there another issues occuring and did anyone have this problem

 

Sounds like you blew a coolant seal or even cracked the water jacket. Years ago I had a heater hose blow on my TII, and within 30 seconds enough coolant came out to overheat the rear rotor. The water jacket was ruined, as I found out after I took it apart later.

After that, I could run the car, but the water temp would just keep going up. Like you're seeing, the water would be boiling out.

 

yea thats what its doing well i took the thermostat out and it ran fine and it didnt do that but the water in the overflow tank started boiling and the car turned off

 

have you figured it out yet? cause mine is kinda doing the same thing,except its not losing coolant out of the overflow its just boiling whats already in it,mad steamage
there seems to be allot of pressure in the upper hose and if it makes any difference the rad cap is new,thermostat is new,and the water pump isnt but 20k old.
the temp gauge goes up to about 3 quarters of the way and then falls after 2 seconds.?!?!

dont mean to hijack the thread but my issue seems pretty close to yours

 

well i turned the cap around and its doing the same as yours a whole lot of steam and my temp gauge dont work so that dont help at all....do your car turn off wen it gets to that point

 

no,but its really starting get on my nerves not being able to figure it out.
i did notice that the owners before me replace the radiator with an automatic one
from what might be an s4 cause i dont have the bleeder screw on the radiator or on the upper neck coming off the engine,who ever had my car before me was an idiot
cause all 4 spark plugs where all leading...

 

i also should flush the coolant system,but it cant really efficiently do it with out the releif/drain plug.

 

Honestly, if your coolant is boiling and the car is shutting itself down, stop running it altogether. Coolant is entering the combustion chamber, and you're only doing more damage.

takahashi.k, 3/4 on the stock S4 gauge is somewhere above 225F, which is already too hot. Also, a 50/50 mix of water and ethylene glycol (coolant) should boil at about 300F, which is well beyond the point of engine death, so that's not a good sign.

 

well i started the car today and it ran fine but im still having the coolant issue....its dumping the coolant into the resivor tank all the way to the top and its boiling up so im starting to think its my water pump what do you guys think

 

This might be something you have already checked, but when i first got my FD, coolant would overflow after I parked. This stopped after I installed new, tighter clamps on the coolant hoses.

Nobody ^^ mentioned this, but in my case new clamps fixed the overflow problem.

 

i decided to to start from scratch ,went to replace the thermostat...where was the old one?
put a proper radiator car on it and the coolant overflow isnt boiling anymore.
but its not over heating?the needle will go just ever so slightly up and then fall
but theres not a whole of heat coming from the vents?
kinda smoked a little this morning but after like 1 minute it stopped.

 

I have literally had all of the problems that are being discussed and, turns out, i threw a coolant seal.

If your car begins to overheat in the slightest, it's in the best interest of you and the car to shut it off immediately.

 

Was it white smoke that came out? Almost like steam? If so, you can bet you lost a coolant seal.