ok so my temp gauge was going up to hot when i would come to a stop then back to normal in the center when i would begin driving. it didnt feel like there was fluid going through the upper hose from the engine back to the radiator.

today i took off the lower hose connecting to the thermostat where it did seem like there was dried radiator fluid corosion on. i couldnt get the back bolt off to open it up because it was a bitch to get to so after 2 hours i quit. i stuck a screwdriver into the thermostat to try and unstuck it if it happened to be so. i put it back together and the temperature gauge seemed to be normal..... for now.

however it still seems that the upper hose isnt holding fluid and when the radiator is uncapped it smokes a little bit.

can someone help me out because i dont want my engine to get too hot and crack.

also worried about why the hell my radiator it smoking out of the cap when its removed to be more specific.

 

I really don't know what you're asking. Can you take some pictures or videos of what's going on ?

 

Don't worry your cars not gonna go ka-blewy on you. The temp gague I think typically should reach a hair past halfway until the fans kick on and the thermostat opens up. If it goes beyond that, typically you are low of fluid....It could also be a bad thermostat.

What you can do is "burp" your cooling system. I did it this past week. Basically the idea is this.

Pinch off the overflow hose.
Remove radiator cap
Start car, let idle until the temp gague starts to move.
While still idleing, add coolant as the air is "burped" out.
Keep adding coolant until full.
Make sense?


The other option which is much more professional and pain in the butt is the find the cooling system bleeder valve. The benefit from using this one is the cooling system stays under pressure while it is burped so every teeny tiny piece of air is removed.

And smoke from a removed radiator cap is actually steam. I bet if you put you had just above it for a few seconds it would be warmer and wet. If it were smoke, it would simply blow by your hand.

The boiling point for water is 212F. When your temp gague is right in the middle, thats about 230 degrees. Why doesn't the water boil while driving? Because its boiling point goes up when under pressure. Remove the cap and the boiling point goes down.

 

Sounds like the radiator is cracked. When mine went, the coolant would not stay and just go to the ground. Replace the radiator and thermo. You can tell if you have a crack if the fluid just stays on the top rather than flow down the fins.

 

The easiest way to burp the system without having to burp the system is to simply cut off the jiggle valve and point the hole straight up when you install the thermostat.

Then it's Case Closed.