nonvtec92

Hey everyone,

I recently replaced my oem radiator which was cracked with a oem replacement radiator, and it's leaking coolant constantly.

I tried the cap the rad came with and it leaked. I tried the oem cap, and it leaked. I tried a brand new 1.2bar stant cap and still, the same thing. It's just slowly bubbling and hissing from around the actual radiator cap.
What the hell?
So went to advance where I bought it thinking maybe it was the actual radiator, and they told me it may be doing that because I have a blown head gasket? Supposedly with a blown hg, excess pressure will build, so the cap isn't able to keep it's seal. They checked out the radiator, said it wasn't defective, and that they wouldn't give my money back.

What do you all recommend?
I was coming home from work this evening, driving up a mountain, and noticed my car was running hot. had to pull over, and add more coolant cause it was all over the damn place. getting tired of this crap!

It's actually leaking so badly, that underload i can hear it whistling from steam coming out from around the cap.

Is it possible that i DO have a blown head gasket and that's what's going on?
I do have a few symptoms I suppose... I have a little oil leaking from between the head and block. Lately my car has been idling like crap. Actually, after I topped the coolant up, and stopped at a few places, on startup it seemed to start running on 3 cylinders and then run fine. My last stop, it definately was running on 3, I pulled out sounding like a subbie, and after about a 1/8 mile it started running on 4.

What's going on!!!? lol

random chaos 85

sounds kinda like a head gasket to me. when the engine is cold and you fire it up, does it build pressure right away?

nonvtec92

I'm not really sure... i'll have to find out.

When a motor is cold, and you open the cap, should there be NO pressure? After it's COMPLETELY COLD sitting outside all night, there's still a quite a bit of pressure in there.

?


Modified by nonvtec92 at 12:22 AM 2/16/2008

instrument

sounds like a hg to me.
and no, overnight removing a radiator cap should be no pressure at all.

if you replace the HG make sure you get a METAL head gasket, trust me.

nonvtec92

anyway to find out for sure if it's my headgasket?

does compression testing tell me if it's so?

nonvtec92

anyone?

acmoc

I don't think so. Compression testing is for piston rings isn't it. since you're gonna change the head gasket, replace the Intake exhaust manifold, timing belt cam seals, and anything else you think might be the problem. I did that when I changed my head gasket. Now it runs so smooth. like a prius

Edit: Head gasket problems, could be: Coolant in oil, losing coolant, white smoke out of tail pipe along with a slightly sweet smell, and I think your computer makes your engine run rich.


Modified by acmoc at 9:20 PM 4/23/2008

DSMAddicted

I know this is an old thread, but I'll reply since someone with a similar problem might do a search and find it useful.

It might be that the new radiator sits a bit too high and when you close the hood it rubs the cap, causing it to sit at an angle and leak pressure. This happened when I mounted a PWR Aluminium radiator in my SVX, design flaw. Common solution was to carefully trim the "ears" of the cap. Check that you installed the radiator properly too, make sure it's sitting into the apposite frame rings correctly.

-Walter