My "new" 51 Hornet is leaking water out the radiator overflow. The temp gage was stuck on Cold so I put in a new water temp sending unit. Now the temp at idle in garage is a little below half way.
Noticed hot water coming out of the radiator overflow tube and checked the cap. Sure enough it was bad and I put in a new one with 7lbs of pressure. Cranked up the car and let it warm up and after a few minutes it was leaking again out the overflow. Temp gage says it is still below the mid-point.
I would have thought it would be overheating if the radiator was bad and needed recoreing.
Any suggestions or comments?
Gary when cold coolant fills up the radiator to the cap the coolant expands as it heats up. The coolant is then forced past the seal in the radiator cap. The coolant will continue to expand past the cap until the limit of expansion has been reached. Until you install a coolant recovery system I would suggest keeping the coolant level about 1 1/2" to 2" below the filler neck. The coolant should not escape at that level and not hurt the cooling function of the radiator. Most auto parts stores have aftermarket recovery systems that is easy to install and will prevent coolant loss.
Lee O'Dell
Very Good response from Lee for that problem. It is critical that you only fill the radiator just past the tubes when cold. Run the engine for a few minutes until hot, and then only top off until the coils or tubes are covered to about 1/2 inch.
A good rule if thumb is to fill to a level that you can touch with your index finger shoved all the way in the filler neck, when refilling a drained system. Then let it run until you can feel the heat in the upper hose, and the fluid is flowing past the filler neck, then you can top off properly after the engine, heater core and radiator have all burped out any air and the level has dropped.
Burp bottles, or Fluid Recovery Systems, are the best thing ever invented for Auto cooling systems.
Bobby
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