Weird problem with my car!! See if you can help.

[orangecapri]

I have an 84 Capri RS with 302 and I have been having this weird problem. Ill go and drive it and when i get back theres coolant all over from being pushed out the cap. Ive bled the system with the heater on i dont know how many times and every time I shut it off and let it cool and go and restart it, it will have to be bled again. It has alot of airbubbles right before the thermostat opens and then its fine till you put the cap on and let it cool down agian, it'll do the same thing. So far Ive put on new headgaskets, and i ended up putting one on backwards so I redid it again. I know for sure their on right this time. Ive put in a new radiator, it has a new water pump from before this started. Ive put a new thermostat in, its a 180 and it acts like its working properly. I have no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. Ive done a block test with the block test tool and liquid like you get at autozone and it didnt change colors. Cause I thought I had a cracked head, but that should have ruled that out. Ive done a compression test and its 115/120 all around the board. It runs good, but like when you get on it when its warm it kind of makes a loud ping/tick noise from the pass. side bank, but I think its just lifter noise. Im pretty sure of that. The next thing im gonna try is a coolant leakdown test to see if I can find a leak or something that would be sucking air. Any other ideas. Sorry for the long post, its just getting irritating for me. Thanks, Chris

 

[Daggar]

It sounds as if there is problem with your overflow cannister not doing it's job. top it off as well as the radiator. It'll overflow the first time you run it but that won't hurt anything. Once it's cooled down again check the level of the overflow can. That should tell you if it's doing it's job or not. My guess is that your radiator is sucking in air from the overflow cannister once it's cool.

 

[orangecapri]

Overflow is full. Even if I warm it up and let the air out before the thermostat opens, I can leave the cap off and let it cool down while its off and ill go back out and start it and it will do the same thing even if the caps off so its not the overflow. By the way its also not overheating untill it sucks in to much air and looses to much coolant. Otherwise it stays right at 185* with the sunpro gauge.

 

[94-302-vert]

I bet the siphon tube in the overflow is cracked or cracked somewhere between the cap and the bottom of the overfow. the age of the car would also support this theory.

Maybe worth checking. Or ever fabbing up a cheesy overflow with a container and a new length of hose.

Chris

 

[orangecapri]

I think the water pump is the wrong one or not sealing right. Im going to try a new pump and also getting a new overflow with new hose. We'll see what happens. Thanks