Driving last night I noticed that even after the car was up to temp, I didn't get any warm air out of the vents initially. A few mins later it did so I didn't think anything of it. A mile or two up the road it surged a couple times but ran fine after. No lights, gauges read normal, no missing. Today I find coolant leaking from high up and around the cap and top of the overflow. The level is also low so it lost the coolant somewhere and somehow. Is it normal for these cars to blow a tank or cap or should I start to fear the worst? I have seen the dreaded HG mentioned a few times on here and frankly, that's the last thing I wanna deal with. Stock 03 'vert with 51k miles, FWIW.
Coolant leak - blown tank/cap or worse?
- Thread starter EB85
- Start date
I was thinking about this this morning and I wonder if it's the thermostat. No heat from the vents at first, I do remember seeing the temp gauge take a slight drop at one point a few minutes before it shuddered. The temp gauge also dropped really quick even after sitting for a few minutes when I got gas afterwards. Anyone think the t-stat stuck or is sticking?
Another observation. Cross posting this from the FAQ Facebook page:
This is a continuation of my last post. I started the car and just let it idle. Took about 15-20 minutes before it was up to temp. Fans came on and off, warm air from the vents, gauge held steady. Then after about another 6-8 mines minutes the temp gauge started to rise. Fans were on high and it was still climbing. I shut it down before it got too hot. No leaks anywhere I could see but I could hear a faint hissing from the overflow bottle. Any suggestions?
This is a continuation of my last post. I started the car and just let it idle. Took about 15-20 minutes before it was up to temp. Fans came on and off, warm air from the vents, gauge held steady. Then after about another 6-8 mines minutes the temp gauge started to rise. Fans were on high and it was still climbing. I shut it down before it got too hot. No leaks anywhere I could see but I could hear a faint hissing from the overflow bottle. Any suggestions?
Heat is always on ..knob just shuts a door
read burp and fill..
ive had issues over the years. .
there are many area's that coolant can leak
1st thing..guage is junk..
How long have you owned this car..
how are your skills if you were to fix or diagnosis. .
read burp and fill..
ive had issues over the years. .
there are many area's that coolant can leak
1st thing..guage is junk..
How long have you owned this car..
how are your skills if you were to fix or diagnosis. .
I got the car last June/July and have put ~3k miles on it. I'm gonna try and borrow a leak tester from a coworker and see if that tells me anything. If I don't get any visual/audible leaks, I'll crack open the fill port and start there. If that gets me nowhere, I'll take it across the street to the independent garage and see if he can narrow it down at least.
Bringing this back from the dead. I got bored and started fiddling with it yesterday. I filled the degas bottle and the crossover using the funnel method. It took almost 1/2 a gallon total. Started the car and let it run a while while watching the gauge and the level in said funnel. She kept burping quite a bit but eventually slowed down a lot. I also shut it down and restarted it a couple times to let it kind of heat cycle while it kept taking coolant. I didn't let it idle as long as before nor did I drive it but in this case it never overheated. I had a bit of steam coming from around the tanks but I couldn't tell if this was coolant burning off from before or not. I also clicked the AC on and the fans started up so I know that's good. I ended up scheduling with the local dealer to have a better trained eye take a look.
Plus I think the IC pump is shot. I didn't see any movement in the tank.:nonono:
Plus I think the IC pump is shot. I didn't see any movement in the tank.:nonono:
Not sure if this is your issue or not, but I had a faulty cap.. Lost a lot of fluid.
I bought I new cap filled/burped and haven't had an issue since.
I bought I new cap filled/burped and haven't had an issue since.
I could hear a very, very faint hissing coming from the cap after I shut it down over the weekend. I still wonder why I had no heat when it initially happened unless it was a leaky cap all along and it finally created enough of an air pocket. Either way, it goes to Ford on Friday to get checked out.
One piece of good news is that my I/C pump does work.
Yeah stock caps can fail causing an overheat. Happened to me a few years ago. New Cap, New thermostat(did it just in case), refill and burp. Been fine ever since.
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