ok my car has been running hot and temps will rise when im at a stand still for awhile. I also notice my coolant levels in my resevoir will lower through time. The other day i changed my oil and decided to flush my coolant also. I found no traces of coolant in the oil and i think there wasnt oil in the coolant. But the bad part is when i filled the radiator back up, i left the car on with the radiator cap off to burp the system. I noticed coolant continously dripping out from the top. When i rev the car, coolant would blow up and pour out, build up to the top again, and then start dripping again.

Symptoms:
-rising temps
-losing coolant from the resevoir
-engine on + radiator cap off = coolant dripping out


Head gasket blown or can it be something else?

TIA

 

I suggest doing a compression test and/or leak down test, and then come back with your numbers. That will definitely help determine if you have a blown headgasket

 

any repair shop with a smog check machine should be able to stick the tail pipe sniffer into your radiator & test for hydrocarbons in the cooling system, if the HC numbers are high then its likely the gasket is blown...good luck.

 

Same symptoms with my ls, I did a compresion test and was leaking in 1 and 2. It's not always a bad thing, I am finishing up a lsvtec conversion tonight

 

another way to check . have someone stand next to the coolent reserve tank. you turn on the car. if the coolent tank bubbles or starts to look like its boiling then the headgasket is blown/.

 

When I refill my radiator, the coolant always rises when the cap is off and engine is running. I guess that's just because the fluid expands when it heats up, but I don't know why it doesn't go into the reserve tank, but instead spills out.

Perhaps you have a leaky radiator, or maybe the thermostat is stuck? My original radiator sprung a leak a couple years back, and coolant temp would rise when sitting at idle as you described. I just went ahead and replaced the thermostat along with putting in a new radiator.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When I refill my radiator, the coolant always rises when the cap is off and engine is running. I guess that's just because the fluid expands when it heats up, but I don't know why it doesn't go into the reserve tank, but instead spills out.

Perhaps you have a leaky radiator, or maybe the thermostat is stuck? My original radiator sprung a leak a couple years back, and coolant temp would rise when sitting at idle as you described. I just went ahead and replaced the thermostat along with putting in a new radiator.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I really hope its this. My radiator, im pretty sure, is fine. I just got it about 6 months ago. I might be a leak from somewhere else. Could a leak from somewhere else cause it to overheat?
And how would i find a coolant leak?

Thanks for the replies folks

 

You may also want to check and make sure your fan is turning on, I had a similar problem and it turned out being my fan was not turning on due to a blown fuse.