hey all, 87 crx si, I thought I should add some coolant to my resevoir incase it was getting low (hard to see) and when I filled it up to the top i noticed some of it was spewing out below the car, is this normal if the car is warm and you overfill the resevoir?

 

well did you overflow the reservoir ? If so the water has to drip somewhere .
if not it sounds like you might have a crack in the plastic tank.

 

i didn't pour it outside the cap, and it didn't spill over, it came to the top, then went down very fast and came out the bottom, not much though

 

i guess to simplify things is, when the car is warm, if you pour water to the top of the resevoir and then stop pouring will it stay at the top? or will it drain to a lower level

 

bump

 

Considering its a sealed container I'd say it should stay up.

OR, your system is really low and its sucking the water into it.

 

If you have a full bottle and them start the car to warm it, the fluid will expand in the radiator due to heat expansion and then it will deposit the excess into the overflow bottle.
Now when the car cools back down and the fluid contracts it will suck the excess back into the radiator.

If you have a full bottle and you are loosing some to the ground, it's becuase you have a crack i it.
BUT, you should only have the bottle about half full or so when the engine is cold. If you are in doubt, just get a new bottle.
Good Luck

 

thanks g

 

ok, i checked where the leak is coming from and its coming from where the spout goes into the resevoir, the resevoir is still full, the water is only leaking from the top neck of it, does this mean it will still function correctly?

 

Nope.
It will squirt on to the ground when the car warms up and then when it cools down it will just suck air back into the cooling system.
You need a new top.

 

ok, paraphrased the bottle itself is always full, it never leaks, except when i add fluid to it. Will it still cool the car?

 

I don't know how first gen's are but most reservoirs are only meant to be filled up halfway. they usually have a drainage hose so that if you overfill it it will go through the hose on to the ground.

 

Replace the bottle.

Problem solved. No worries.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 89-civic-DX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Replace the bottle.

Problem solved. No worries. </TD></TR></TABLE>I really think we need to know if he is filling it all the way up to the cap before we tell him to replace the whole thing.

 

does the resevoir cool the car better if it is half full instead of full?

 

The reservoir is just that. It holds water then when the radiator needs it it can take it from the reservoir. and if the radiator doesn't need all the water in the radiator it put's it in the reservoir.

It is just a reserve holding place for water

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ILcrxsi1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I really think we need to know if he is filling it all the way up to the cap before we tell him to replace the whole thing.</TD></TR></TABLE>


I read one of his posts wrong opps.


There is a line on the side of the bottle that tells you where to fill it to, should say "max". If it is filled over that line then when the car heats up, it will leak.


So if you are filling it up past that line, then that is your problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mavrick &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">does the resevoir cool the car better if it is half full instead of full?</TD></TR></TABLE>it shouldn't be filled all the way to the cap, but if you filled it that much it will be fine, all the extra coolant will just leak out naturally and it will be just as full as it needs to be.

 

its full and it leaks from the top, i guess i forgot to tell you guys that the car also tends to get almost 3/4 on the heat guage and I was wondering if a leaky top resevoir is to blame