David Councill wrote:
> My 72B, in the 90 degree heat, is losing coolant. I did have a small
> seep in one of the core plugs which I sealed off a week ago. But there
> is still some leakage somewhere. Looking under the car using a light, I
> can usually see a drop of green fluid hanging from the bottom of the
> bell housing. Now that in itself is no big deal except that despite
> never seeing coolant make it to the ground since the discovery of this
> problem, I have gone through almost a gallon of coolant in less than two
> weeks, mostly city driving in mid 90s. The car has never overheated
> although it has ran a bit hotter than normal when it gets maybe 1/3
> gallon low in coolant (50/50 water & AF).
>
> So one area I suspect is the radiator cap. A cheap thing to check
> perhaps and I suspect I can find a new one locally for a few dollars.
> Aren't they somewhat universal? But what pressure rating? Haynes says 7
> psi "older cars" and 15 psi for "newer" but doesn't define what years
> that refers to. Moss shows 7-10-13 psi caps with a gradual increase in
> ratings as the Bs get newer. And my Bentley manual says 10 psi. Does it
> really matter much? Any other suggestions or cap recommendations? Yes I
> know another problem may be head gasket but there have been no signs or
> symptoms that this is the case even though its a fairly new engine rebuild.
I highly recommend a great tool that's in too few home garages:
A cooling system pressure tester.
I paid about $35 for mine, if I recall correctly, at a pawn shop. It was
cheap because the adapters were missing. So far, it has worked on all my
cars without needing an adapter, including the Dodge Shadow and all the
LBC's.
I hook it up to the rad cap position and pump it up to about 17 pounds,
Any leaks become very visible within seconds.
-Rock http://www.rocky-frisco.com
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