What Causes Coolant Not To Suck Back Into The Overflow Tank?

[General karthief]

Yea, those techs just get too technical, its probably has something to do with the lever design, they are not used in a modern design recovery system.
Just a thought, have you checked to see if the puke tank is not plugged at the bottom where the hose connects? Pop the hose off at the radiator and blow through it

 

[j0rd4n]

Yea, those techs just get too technical, its probably has something to do with the lever design, they are not used in a modern design recovery system.
Just a thought, have you checked to see if the puke tank is not plugged at the bottom where the hose connects? Pop the hose off at the radiator and blow through it

Ya I've also tried that when I replaced the hose going to it. My overflow tank is only about 3 months old as stated in a previous comment.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/mustang-overflow-tank-9495v8.html

I use this reservoir as because my car has an electric fan from a 94-95 5.0... this overflow tank doesn't seal at the top, but to my understanding it shouldn't seal like the radiator , right?

 

[General karthief]

Right, no seal. No walrus, no hits no runs no errors

 

[j0rd4n]

ok so i replaced the cap, tomorrow i will drive to work and then check the level once it cools down

 

[j0rd4n]

Right, no seal. No walrus, no hits no runs no errors

so im completely at a loss now.. i went to autozone and replaced my rad cap. they give me some flimsy looking thing but the inside springs and seals look the same as my other cap.. anyway i drive it around for a bit and get it warmed up , then i get on it pretty hard thru a couple gears and coolant starts misting all over my windshield and hood. this has never happened before with my other cap and i get on the power hard all the time even with this issue ive been having (as long as it currently isnt too hot).

the only thing i can think is that this new cap is junk. when i installed it i noticed it was super flimsy, when its screwed onto the radiator it will rock back and forth if you press on it. i went out just now while the car was still hot and if you press on the edge of the cap it will start hissing like it is unsealing. i knew it was an autozone special but that is ridiculous. my other cap was nice and solid when screwed on all the way and would not unseal if you pressed on the sides of it. even the more expensive cap (10$ instead of 7) that has a pressure release valve felt way more solid.

 

[Lourdalfe]

I would say to warm up the engine be careful pull the cap and see if there is a constant stream of bubbles or a strong smell of exhaust gases and does it miss when you first start it those are the easiest ways to tell if you have a blown head gasket

 

[j0rd4n]

I would say to warm up the engine be careful pull the cap and see if there is a constant stream of bubbles or a strong smell of exhaust gases and does it miss when you first start it those are the easiest ways to tell if you have a blown head gasket

Yeah it definitely takes extra cranks to start, once it does it seems to miss and then levels out and runs fine.. I really hope it's not the head gasket. I have also noticed what appears to be small amounts of gunk in the coolant but the oil is still clean. ill attatch a picture of the stuff floating on the top of the coolant

 

[j0rd4n]

I would say to warm up the engine be careful pull the cap and see if there is a constant stream of bubbles or a strong smell of exhaust gases and does it miss when you first start it those are the easiest ways to tell if you have a blown head gasket

I replaced the cap to the one with a release valve. I took it out and got on it hard after it warmed up and coolant doesn't spray out but after a short drive the coolant level went down slightly. I've eliminated every possibility besides a head gasket...

What can I do to determine if it has a bad head gasket? A leak down test? How do I do that

 

[General karthief]

There used to be a paper strip test kit, that was a while back, according to my grandkids I'm kinda old, a bad head gasket can be very subtle or a gushing volcano, making diagnosis hard for the home mechanic, Can you smell exhaust/gas in your radiator or does the fluid bounce at idle,
Now what I would do is bug my mechanic friend to pressure test the system

 

[jrichker]

I replaced the cap to the one with a release valve. I took it out and got on it hard after it warmed up and coolant doesn't spray out but after a short drive the coolant level went down slightly. I've eliminated every possibility besides a head gasket...

What can I do to determine if it has a bad head gasket? A leak down test? How do I do that

Click on the picture to enlarge...

 

[j0rd4n]

Click on the picture to enlarge...

My mechanic said he would do the test so I dropped it off there. Right now my roommate is using the garage or I would have tried it myself. I'll keep you guys posted. I also told him about the miss on startup which he thought was weird because he originally diagnosed that as a bad fuel pump but we replaced that and now it's doing it again

 

[mikestang63]

rent from autozone an exhaust gas coolant detector. it will tell you if you have exhaust gas in your coolant. you can alsotake the cap off and with the car started and warmed up, look for bubbles of air/gas in the radiator , or you can stick your nose in the opening with the car idling to see if it smells like exhaust. Another way to tell is if you have white smoke or excesive water coming out the tailpipe, or if your oil looks like coffee from water contamination. Normally when a HG goes, you will see the temperature rise when you get into the throttle and back down when you let out.

You can aso do the leak down test as stated above

 

[j0rd4n]

rent from autozone an exhaust gas coolant detector. it will tell you if you have exhaust gas in your coolant. you can alsotake the cap off and with the car started and warmed up, look for bubbles of air/gas in the radiator , or you can stick your nose in the opening with the car idling to see if it smells like exhaust. Another way to tell is if you have white smoke or excesive water coming out the tailpipe, or if your oil looks like coffee from water contamination. Normally when a HG goes, you will see the temperature rise when you get into the throttle and back down when you let out.

You can aso do the leak down test as stated above

my mechanic is going to perform the exhaust gas detector test. i just dont have the time right now and if the test comes out negative then i need them to keep checking other things until it is fixed. in the meantime i am buzzing around my 200k mile corolla lol. its damn slow but you cant beat the reliability.

There used to be a paper strip test kit, that was a while back, according to my grandkids I'm kinda old, a bad head gasket can be very subtle or a gushing volcano, making diagnosis hard for the home mechanic, Can you smell exhaust/gas in your radiator or does the fluid bounce at idle,
Now what I would do is bug my mechanic friend to pressure test the system

thats exactly what i did haha. luckily he is walking distance from my work.

 

[j0rd4n]

So the tech said there was a huge bubble in the system causing this issue. He also noticed the harmonic balancer is on the way out and it's causing a intense vibration. Well we hope that's what's causing it because he's replacing it before I get it back