After driving around for awhile in any fashion (beating on it or just cruising, highway or city), my coolant overflow bottle will fill up a little bit. It will never fill up all the way, just stays at a certain spot. Even after cruising @ 4,000 rpms for an hour it will only go to that specific level. After driving and letting it cool down I can pour whats in the overflow bottle back into the radiator and the resevoir will be at the same level as when I first started driving, and the radiator will be topped off.

It has been like this since I put the motor together 500 miles ago and hasnt changed at all. There are no other symptoms that would lead to the likely suspect of a leaky headgasket. It also doesnt not use any coolant, just displaces a little into the overflow.

The radiator cap is a Stant brand and is new. The radiator is an aluminum PWR. What could cause this? When I pop off the radiator cap after letting it sit overnight there will be a strong suction sound.

I am not 100% knowlegable on how the radiator cap works, could it be faulty not allowing the radiator to suck in the coolant from the overflow?

 

sounds like you might still have air in the system

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wantboost &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sounds like you might still have air in the system</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've bled it by jacking up the front end and letting the car run until it starts coming out. I will try it a few more times though.

Also the coolant needle never moves after the car warms up.

 

try checking the thermostat as well.

when mine went bad i had a similar problem

 

you have head studs?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wantboost &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">try checking the thermostat as well.

when mine went bad i had a similar problem</TD></TR></TABLE>

The thermostat was replaced with an autozone one when the motor was rebuilt, so it only has 500 miles on it as well. But coulda been faulty since day one I guess.

Golden Eagle headstuds.

 

anymore ideas?

 

My .02 When bleeding the system.....squeeze and shake the hoses. I seem to free up a lot of air when I got that tip.

 

mine does the same thing.....

 

dumb question: the overflow hose is completely submerged in the bottle obviously...?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b00steds0l &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dumb question: the overflow hose is completely submerged in the bottle obviously...?</TD></TR></TABLE>

uh yah, and mounted in oem location

 

i would say its the headgasket....

had the same problem on my last build and kept denying it was the headgasket until finally i ran out of options and replaced the gasket out of spite, ended up fixing my problem....

I would guess your leak is small now and may or may not increase... what kind of gasket are you using now?

 

I work at honda. checked with techs. Completely normal. That's what the bottle is there for.

-Rik

 

Its an OEM gasket bored to 84MM by Golden Eagle.