So we have been on this road trip for 10 days and there were no problems with engine temp until yesterday. Driving along and the temp started to creep up and it hits 125C/225F as I pull over. It's been running around 100C/180F for the last ten days.
When I open the hood I can hear the resevoir tank gurgling. There isn't any more coolant going in, just steam. It's full!
So I let it cool down and the tank remains full. Finally at about 95C I remove the rad cap and when I do there is one last burp to the resevoir tank and then the coolant from up there begins flowing back to the radiator.
If I just wait, with the cap off, the reservoir will slowly drain and fill the rad back up. I then put the cap back on and all is well again.
When it happened the first time yesterday I stopped at Napa and bought a new rad cap but it happened again today.
As I understand it the pressure in the rad has to reach a certain point before the rad cap valve opens and coolant can go up to the resevoir, can anyone tell me what that pressure is? Similarly, when the engine cools down, at some point that same same valve should open and let the resevoir tank drain back to the rad to fill it back up for the next trip.
Any ideas?
The only guess I have right now is that when I'm going up a very steep hill and the transmission kicks all the way down into first and revs at 4k-5k I may be pushing coolant out of the system into the resevoir tank and I can't get that back without a cool down period.
I'm wondering what would happen if I removed the little valve in the rad cap.
Any ideas?
When I open the hood I can hear the resevoir tank gurgling. There isn't any more coolant going in, just steam. It's full!
So I let it cool down and the tank remains full. Finally at about 95C I remove the rad cap and when I do there is one last burp to the resevoir tank and then the coolant from up there begins flowing back to the radiator.
If I just wait, with the cap off, the reservoir will slowly drain and fill the rad back up. I then put the cap back on and all is well again.
When it happened the first time yesterday I stopped at Napa and bought a new rad cap but it happened again today.
As I understand it the pressure in the rad has to reach a certain point before the rad cap valve opens and coolant can go up to the resevoir, can anyone tell me what that pressure is? Similarly, when the engine cools down, at some point that same same valve should open and let the resevoir tank drain back to the rad to fill it back up for the next trip.
Any ideas?
The only guess I have right now is that when I'm going up a very steep hill and the transmission kicks all the way down into first and revs at 4k-5k I may be pushing coolant out of the system into the resevoir tank and I can't get that back without a cool down period.
I'm wondering what would happen if I removed the little valve in the rad cap.
Any ideas?