Coolant not going into resevoir when hot
 

I've been noticing that "hot coolant smell" when i get out of the car after driving. Haven't had a noticible loss of coolant though. Today i noticed that after driving 40 miles or so, that the coolant wasn't going into the overflow resevoir. I checked all the hoses, no blockage. Then i loosened the radiator cap a little with a rag over it and relieved some pressure. as i did that the coolant started going into the overflow. I have 13psi caps on both upper fill port and radiator. Is it a bad cap or as i'm starting to believe, should i not have a pressure cap on the upper filler neck?? Its an 88 N/A. Temp seems to run normal... 1/3 on guage.

yeah i just put in a new radiator and emptied the resavoir so all was fresh but its still empty.

ive replaced the caps but im starting to lean toward the idea i mite have a crack in the hose that goes to the heater core and leaks when the engine gets presure biult up making it go out the hose instead of the resevoir

today i wanted to go down the road to see a friend so i jump in my 7 to go for a lil ride well my coolent level buzzer went off as soon as it fired up so i popped the hood added some water and worked it in then added some more untill it was stuffed i was like man its usen more water then it used to well i fired it up again and pulled off got about 30 ft then it went off again grr i popped the hood again -_- i hate doing it to any car.....then topped it off again and went down the road to get gas less then a mile pulled i pulled in to get gas as i walked around to pump and smelled antifreeze i was like o thats just some i spilled thats burning off then i saw a pudle of water =/ i was like plz tell me ssome gay suv's ac did it.. i leaned down and took a look nope it was dripping off near the firewall =/ i guess ill have to take a look at it asap and replace the hose and see if it helps the over flow i was gonna try and put it off till the weekend guess not well there is some good news i didnt overheat it =)

What makes you think coolant needs to go into the revervior?
If the engine isn't overheating, then I wouldn't worry about it.

If you're getting the COOLANT LOW buzzer, especially after the engine cooled down (overnight), then there's a small leak somewhere.


-Ted

I'd say if you can smell hot coolant you probably have a leak that's relieving pressure before the system can build enough pressure to push the spring up under your cap. Sounds like it's probably a slow leak that's gonna be a PITA to find.

yeah thats what i was think since then i found the leak it was the hose that goes to the heater core on the drivers side at the firewall there wasnt a oem clamp just some elcheapo one that was pinchn the tube since then i put a oem clamp on and it stoped the leak at the firewall but as of now i havent put enough miles to see if its draining into the revervior yet

well now its leakn out the fill cap above the water pump so now im thinkn its the water pump or the thermostat thing thats in the neck

Isn't the radiator cap pressure meant to be 1.3bar? Or around 17psi?

i cant recall its either 1.3 bar or 13psi

.9bar or 13 psi


and like ted said, unless you have a problem the coolant shouldn't even be moving to the overflow, why do you think it needs to?

Yeah, when i look at my overflow, it looks straight brown, and filthy. The coolant in the actual system is fine, tho. It's dirty because it never goes anywhere and is exposed to dirt a lot more. The reservoir is there 'in case.'

dude i had that problem and it turned out i had a blown water seal...... it was comin out the new radiator cap

Well when the coolant heats up, it's going to expand, right? I was under the impression that the purpose of the resevoir was to give that expanding coolant a place to expand to and then allow it to return to the radiator when it cooled down again. If thats the case, then shouldn't this occur every time the car is driven long enough to reach normal temp?? Or does expansion normally not exceed the 13psi rating of the cap, therefore not require dumping into the overflow??

yep i think i got a blown coolent seal in the engine i noticed when i was dry crackn it to unflood it when i checkd my coolent it shot out under pressure with the engine still being cold so im thinkn some of the exhaust is blowing by into the coolent system sound about right?

yes the expansion should not build up over the 13PSI limit of the cap, if it does then you have an issue with the cooling system.

i have the same problem currently but i solved it, i took off the under tray and a PO had put on some crappy incorrect lower radiator hose and it was kinda kinked and leaking a bit, i have new rad hoses in the mail

last night i checkd the watervalve in the fill neck it checkd out ok. and i warmed up the car with the cap off to see if coolent was moving so the water pump works =( looks like im gonna have to do a swap thank god i got that spare engine and trany for 300 =)

Um yeah with the proper cap on any internal combustion water cooled engine when the vehicle reaches a certain point it will open the rad cap and let a few oz of coolant into the overflow jug. As it cools the system will vacum about the same amount of coolant back into the system. Hence the hot and cold marks on the coolant bottle......