ok, here goes... i went to a local dock with my brother to take some pics of both our cars. i left the car running w/ the heat on on a very steep area (nose facing downhill, very steep). anyway, after a while I notice some collant dripping on my front lip. I open the hood and looked underneath...everything is dry by the waterpump and upper/lower hoses and the coolant is coming directly outta the overflow-hose. I figure its the incline dipping the car so I pull it onto a flat area and keep it running, heat still on and temps are normal (S4, less than 1/4 on the gauge). after a lilttle bit i drive off on my way home and the add coolant buzzer comes on intermitently. i get home and the overflow bottle is still 90% full...i shut the car off and open the rad cap w/o any drama. no spewing etc...and it's a brand new OEM cap less than a year old. I filled some coolant in the neck till it wouldn't take anymore (filled maybe a couple of cups) and put the cap back on. I started the car temps were still normal and the overflow had a little less fluid in it, no buzzer. the system seems to pressurize on the upper hose, while running its a little firm but not overly-so. i havent driven it since and I was driving ALL day w/ normal temps and no buzzer. what gives????

 

anyone have an idea? i'm not blowing smoke out the back nor is there any trace of oil in the coolant, she runs strong!!! clogged rad. perhaps? the upper hose seemed ok in terms of pressure...not too firm at all so i dont think its over-pressurizing at all.

 

Check the coolant level the next couple of times before you run it. When you squeeze the upper hose does it kind of surge back when you let of the pressure?

 

i believe it does w the rad cap off...this good or bad? any ideas? sound like a seal??

 

Hard to say... I've been having trouble finding a definitive test to say that it is NOT a coolant seal, but there's plenty that say it probably is. The easiest is to disable the ignition and crank it with the car cold and the rad cap off and coolant up to the top of the filler neck. if you get a geyser, then you're screwed. also look for a steady stream of small bubbles coming up throught the filler neck.

 

It's good if it surges back, btw, that means your water pump is working.

 

i did start it (was a warm start) w/ the rad cap off when i got home. some coolant popped out at the start (not a geyser blowin all over) then settled down right after and i filled the neck w/ what seemed like a couple cups till it steadied off. no lil air bubbles when it was steady, and the waterpump is a year old as well. if it was a bad seal wouldnt i get water bursting from the cap due to all the pressure?? and smoke out the back??

 

It wouldn't burst out, from what I've read, although it usually should get white smoke at start up. Mine doesn't, and may or may not be a blown coolant seal. Do a search of my name to get the whole story, if you want. Try the geyser test tomorrow when its cold, with the ignition disabled. I'm guessing your coolant just got low, and your don't really have anything to worry about, but do the test anyway.

 

wha if the rad has a block? i did notice a lil bit of coolant a few weeks ago at one lil section of fins at the bottom of my rad and decided not to get a new one till its really toast and i can get an aluminum. i just dont understand y the overflow got all full (its usually pretty full, it was coming outta the tube now)

 

Coolant farting out when you start it with the cap off is normal.

It doesn't sound like a failing water jacket.

I'd be inclined (har-har) to blame it on Gravity. Just keep an eye on your coolant level (if there is something more serious to blame you don't want it to take you by surprise) and remember to replace all your rad hoses when you put the new rad in.

And do get an aluminum rad - the copper ones are garbage.

 

got in this a.m and checked the overflow bottle right after start-up. it was about 3/4 capacity (where I usually have it filled) and I drove off. it warmed up normal, heat worked as normal and temps were normal (my commute is only about 15 min.) I pulled into the lot at work, shut the car and checked everything out. The overflow was maybe a lil more than 3/4 but it was not leaking or pissing from the overflow tube at ALL and the buzzer never sounded. seems all is normal, once temps are up I assume pressure has built so if it was to essentially overflow like yesterday it would have happened already (if I had a real problem). I think a 15 min drive would be enough time to tell if somethings wrong (oh, and no smoke on start-up either as usual) any ideas?? blame it on gravity?? if my GVR4 was done (almost there, takin forever) I'd put it in the shop and not worry about doing a motor, toss a TII in it now. But I do need a car so this would be a bad time for a seal

 

correct me if i'm wrong but while driving shouldn't water be flowing in and outta the overflow bottle? perhaps the incline spilled coolant outta the overflow yesterday (enough to low make the system a little low) hence the buzzer intermittently. now that i filled coolant at the neck everything should be full and circulating but I've just never heard of anything like this before which worries me a bit. am I right in assuming a 15 min. drive would be enough for a real problem to show itself? i ran it out a bit too once warm this morning aybe I should get the rad now...thoughts??

 

I don't think it should go into the overflow resevior while driving, except maybe sustained hard driving, or excessive periods of idling. What happens is when you turn the car off the temperature in the coolant spikes since the fan isn't going and you're not moving to push air through the radiator. When you're idling, the fan cant pull as much air through as when the car is moving. This makes the pressure rise and to avoid unneccesary strain to the system it's allowed to blow some coolant off, into the overflow. Then, as the car cools down it slurps it back up. What probably happened is that when you left it sitting, it spit out a little coolant, which spilled due to the incline. As for the buzzer, you may have freed up an airbubble, or just been a little low on coolant. I'd flush the system, or have it flushed, and not worry about it.

 

thanks for all the input, puts my mind at ease for a bit. i don't really think it's a huge problem either but with these cars you automatically assume the worst first
I'll keep my eye on it...

 

anyone know off the top of their head what psi the cap should be for? when i bought mine it already had an cheap one like from auto zone on it, and i don't think in works right, my over flow tank never changes in fullness.


-Shawn (don't mean to jack the thread)

btw, it says 13 on the cap