Don't know what's up, but for some reason my car is wanting to puke it's coolant out the overflow tank after I've been running it hard..............

This past Saturday I was running it hard at the track (Sebring). For half a day it was fine, then all of a sudden I would run it hard for a few laps, it would hover in the 205-212 degree range, and then the temp gauge would zoom to 226- 245 and I knew I was puking coolant...............I would let it cool down, refill it, start all over, and the same thing would happen after just a few laps...............

Ryan W. suggested the Cap on the AST might be bad, so I borrowed his, but no difference (Thanks Ryan....).............Nick R. thought it might be a thermostat problem..................any suggestions anyone?

I did a pressure check recently and all is fine............stock radiator by the way and I know some people might automatically say, "Oh, you have to upgrade that, blah, blah, blah............", but I have had many track days with this radiator, as well as many others on this forum, and the stock seems to do just fine, until it splits, or leaks or whatever.............this is all just a recent symptom..............Also I started out with about a 25% concentration of coolant, but obviously was down to just water, after a few incidents.............

Thanks in Advance...........

David

 

What's hapening with your car is one of the symptoms of a blown coolant seal. You state that you've had a pressure test. Have you had one since the incident?

I agree with you about the stock radiator. Mine has 60k on it and does fine. I'm changing mine out for peace of mind in the next month or so. Along with the stock ast.

Good luck.

 

I agree with cpa7man. Based on your description I think you must have O-ring failure. You overheated your engine.

Usually you should start from the simple checks, caps, hoses etc. but due to your description I think iunfortunately it is an O-ring.

A good and easy way to check is to do the "Champagne Buble Check" (Scuderia Sciriani Site - put this in google search) describes the procedure.

I hope I am wrong
Let us know what happens

 

But with a blown coolant seal wouldn't I be seeing coolant in the oil?

I'm not.

David

 

Exhaust gasses are filling you coolant system creating lots of pressure forcing coolant out the top of the overflow.

sorry and good luck to you.

 

This isn't necessarily true. Sure symptom of my engine failure was that the overflow tank would puke coolant when just idling. Eventually the leak will get so bad, it's going to flood your motor, and you'll have really hard starts. Finally you'll see coolant on the garage floor, from the water seeping out between the rotor housings.

Again, I pray this isn't the cause, but...from the experience around here, the symptoms point to an engine o-ring failure.

 

The above people may be correct, but I just hate it when they leap to that conclusion. When the car is cold, remove the filler cap. Start the engine. watch the filler opening closely. If you see bubbles coming out continuously, yes, it is probably an "O" ring failure. If not, thermostat first (sticking?). Then on to other possiblilities (water pump impeller failure, etc.).

 

This is prudent troubleshooting, and agree. I would not rule out the o-ring in the back of my mind though...

 

I would probably do a compression check as well.

Also, look at the tailpipe on cold startup looking for white smoke. Could be a sign of coolant in the chambers.

Best bet is bubble check and a compression check (which will allow you to inspect the plugs at the same time).

 

Crap!!! I did a Soy'ch and this is what I get? I just got the last symptom last night. Car wouldn't start.

 

i had the exact problem..I started with a leaking AST tank then it was to the point that it sounded like my coolant was soup in a pot boiling...bubbling..eventually I checked everything...(waterpump, rad, and the thermostat) changed the plugs and found that the rear plugs had coolant...bad o rings was diagnosis..

I hope the best...

 

So far, the bubble check is negative, thank God and Baby Jesus.....................

I think I discovered the problem.............The hose coming off the filler neck leading to the AST was hissing and bubbling a little under pressure, ever so slightly so I was lucky to catch it..............anyway I think what was happening was that under pressure the coolant was flowing to the overflow tank, but then upon cooling instead of sucking the coolant back in under the vacuum created it was sucking in air through my little leak, thus air was in the system, and upon heating again it was forcing the coolant out............

Makes sense to me anyhow............I put a much better hose clamp on the hose so I hope I'll be OK..........

One other point I'd love some opinions on.............the standard pressure cap on the AST from Pettit is 13lbs.............is this OK or should I use a 16lb............or will that potentially build up too much pressure before it releases to the overflow tank and potentially cause problems elsewhere.............??

Thanks,

dp

p.s. Series 7...........Streisand? on the forum? I'm still resisting scratching my eyes out so I'll never have to endure that again............

 

As of Sunday my R1 is doing this. Start it up cold and the filler neck looks like champange... 65K miles.

 

jeff, when I got my bubbles I thought the worst, but they went away when I fixed my turb coolant leak.

 

this is the case with mine...I had champaign bubbles and then alwasy overflowing from the overflow bottle...I ended up doing a double treatment of blockweld on and it's been holding together for the last 7months/1500 miles...Something to take into consideration if you anyone decides to do the blockweld treatment is that this gunk does clog the radiator and turbo coolant lines...The only reason I did this is so I can continue to have fun with it till the very last mile...I am having the engine rebuilt, rad replaced, and going single when it decides to go no more...otherwise I would probably do the rebuild and not do the blockweld which would potentially screw things up even more and cost you more money when you did rebuild.

But the filterneck and AST caps, make sure they are sealing properly before you go rebuilding your motor

 

Well, I cannot think of a better performer of show tunes and a better "live" performer. My wife and I have been huge fans ever since we saw her live in Vegas. Yeah, I know, I'm

Anyhow, I took a pressure tester to my coolant filler neck, pumped the sucker up to 7 lbs., found out that my pettit ast cap went sorry, replaced it with a stant cap which sports the stupid vent lever. Pumped the system with the new cap on, took it up to 10lbs. and the new cap held. Gave it one more good pump just to make sure that 13 was the threshhold, and the damned cap started shootin water to the resevoir. Went to my local autoparts store, threw the 13 lbs. cap back at them with a furious vengance and picked up a 16 lbs. cap. End result, couldn't be happier with that 16 lbs. cap.

Something is still going on though because I keep having to poor in at least 6 ounces of water after every drive to work and back home. Then, as I continue to fill the neck, I get overflow to my resevoir again. This is most concerning to me because if I have a coolant system that can hold 16lbs. under the pressure of a tester pump, then why the hell is water going straight to my resevoir upon simple filling up?

 

Yeah, what I'm wondering though is if 16lbs is "too much", in other words if the system is designed to relieve itself at 13lbs (although this is just the cap that pettit puts out, and I really don't know the correct pressure threshold that the system is SUPPOSED to have, because my filler neck cap isn't original).........Anyone know?............

I'm going to look again for the champagne bubbles..........I don't get white smoke on startup, but will check that more closely also............

Seems like I see some bubbles, but not enough to alarm me..............

Are you guys saying that I should see absolutely none at all................

The crazy thing about trying to do this test, is that after the car warms up a little, the filler neck wants to constantly overflow..............should I be seeing that?.....I attributed it to the system building up pressure, expanding, etc............thus overflowing the filler neck...........

Thanks,

David

 

The overflow of the filler neck at idle should be a good thing.
Just out of curiosity, how long has it been since you've flushed out your coolant system?

 

the original filler neck cap is supposed to not have a relief spring. the ast lets out all the pressure at 13lbs. if you have eliminated the ast then you can then change the cap on the filler neck to a 16lbs. relief type because there will be a nipple there that goes to the coolant overflow.

in any case, having a higher rated cap on the filler neck should not have any affect as long as both 16lb cap on the neck and 13lb cap on the ast are working correctly.

alex

 

Try checking your thermostat, make sure your fans are working right.. and do a compresion check.. Hopfully its not your motor going..