You are not mistaken, you did see my post mention that the thermostat
had been replaced. Twice in fact. The first time for one that opened at
165 degrees since I thought I had an overheating problem that turned
out to be a voltage regulator problem. After I found out I was reading
the right temperature the car was running too cool so about a couple
years ago I put a new 185 degree thermostat in. My thought was that
with the thermostat and gasket I might be out $5 so it made sense to
try to see if this was the culprit or not.
I do have an antifreeze mixture. I do have an overflow bottle. It is
perpetually empty. Either I have a leak in the bottom, which I dont
believe I have, or all of it is getting sucked in at some point. Others
have mentioned a leak in the head gasket. Maybe they are right. Or,
maybe I am losing more from the heater valve than I think.
Does this sound possible? Coolant is full but the level drops because
some is leaving via the heater valve. At some point the level of the
coolant lowers enough so that the pressure builds up when it is hot and
vents out steam through the fill tube, exactly where the radiator cap
is supposed to vent. At this point the major steam event gets my
attention and I think I have a problem all of the sudden when in
reality it has been slowly building to this venting due to coolant loss
through the heater valve(hopefully) or a leak in the head gasket.(hope
not).
Thoughts?
Aaron
Aaron Cropley
71 TR6 (Throttle Body Injection!)
http://www.triumphowners.com/108
Topsham, Maine
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave1massey@cs.com
To: Acekraut11; 6pack@autox.team.net; triumphs@autox.team.net
Sent: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 6:52:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Subject: Re: Cooling System Pressure
In a message dated 9/8/2005 4:38:28 PM Central Standard Time,
Acekraut11@aol.com writes:
I am at or close to sea level. Maybe it is time to replace the
thermostat. In this situation it is an inexpensive way to eliminate
one potential problem. Another thought might be that the temperature
sending unit I have hooked up to the fan maybe coming on too late. It
was hard to find one at a lower temperature that would match the
fitting I have. I think it is designed to come on at 205 degrees.
Someone mentioned that maybe the heater valve is sucking air and
causing air in the system. Thoughts on that?
I thought I saw thermostat on the list of items replaced. Perhaps not.
205 is not high enough to cause the car to boil over, especially if you
have an antifreeze mixture. Since the valve has leaked out, it could
leak in. Do you have a coolant recovery bottle? Does it draw back
coolant when the car cools? Over time, does the coolant in the recovery
bottle increase?
Dave
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