Pushing Coolant

[psychbiker1966]

I am having a problem with coolant being pushed out into my overflow bottle and not returning when it cools. I have done the sniffer test and had it confirmed again by a shop no Hydro Carbons in the coolant. I have hooked up both my fans to come on together. The Temp gauge stays in the middle,No white smoke,car is running well. The rad cap is 3 months old as is the thermostat.I have good compression numbers. HG was done in February so I am tempted to retorque my ARPs if its leaking or something. I want to rule out my water pump or cooling system before I mess with the bolts. The car will push coolant into its overflow bottle and each day I have to transfer a full bottle back into the system myself. When I start it with the cap off I get frothy bubbling as if I'm getting air in the system. I have a video which won't load but I have a few pictures. The frothing gets worse so you don't see the green fluid if I run it longer. I can rev it up and it will spill over a little bit.. Can a water pump cause this or do I have a leaking headgasket (With no Hydrocarbons)??

 

[NHerron]

Boost97gst^That seems to be my initial thoughts too. It's possible for things to loosen up on [thick] composite gaskets such as head gaskets and thats due to the heat cycles and eventually the gasket gives in and compresses more.

When I built this engine I torqued the head to 90ft/lbs with a composite head gasket. After a few hundred miles I marked each of the nuts with a marker. Then one at a time, loosened each nut and retorqued to 90ft/lbs. They all moved a 1/4 turn past the oringinal mark.

 

[psychbiker1966]

Bolt 1 moved the most a little more than a quarter turn ,some of the bolts did not move but about 6 of them moved 45 degrees or so. I recently fixed a rear balance shaft that had been out of phase (same crappy shop) .I think the vibrations may have caused some bolts to loosen. On start up I still have some bubbles... DRAG.. Will drive and see if it still pushes coolant.

 

[boost97gst]

Yessssit, composites ive heard NEED retorqued, mls's dont(again, with moly lube properly applied on initial installation of course). Just kind of hear say, im not a machinist, just asked my machinist and another reputable one nearby.

OP: It really does sound like a hg. Exhaust gases entering coolant and boiling it. This still doesnt explain why your refill bottle isnt siphoning back iunto the system though? Im not 100% on that. Havent read entire thread but would suggest checking your overflow pickup tube, the tube running from housing to the overflow, and of course the cap itself. Those are all logical failure points. I hate hearing about fellow dsmers engine woes anymore. They are so frequent. Even running my fully built engine w 1200 miles i still get nervous cranking the boost up . These damn things are just unreliable... Flame away but its true. GL to you, hope its nothing serious bud.

 

[MHuddy1213]

what are you torquing them to?

 

[psychbiker1966]

Good news ,so far I tried what RayBan GST suggested and found my old rad cap. It was marked 13 lbs and the spring looked bigger than the new one I was using. I took the rubber off my new cap and added it on the bottom of the old cap and went for a leisurely drive to work. I checked the overflow when I got there and the level had not changed! I just drove home and this time I built boost up to 15 lbs with moderate revs and again I checked it..No change. I hope I have got this problem licked... Next up heavy throttle!!

 

[RayBan GST]

happy for you man , keep it for one day like this if all ok buy yourself a new water neck and new cap

cheers

 

[psychbiker1966]

If it works why should I mess with it?? Jury is still deliberating..I had a Turbo hose spring a leak due to the increased pressure from the better cap (I hope) vs pressure from a HG leak. (Hope not).

 

[NHerron]

Doubling up the seal on the cap (lowest seal) would raise pressure but not enough to cause a hose to come loose, assuming they were tight. The coolant is supposed to boil out a bit into the recovery tank during normal operation and get sucked back in after cool down, hence the name, recovery.

I would ask the shop just how they prepped for that MLS gasket. Sounds like they didnt do things correctly.

 

[psychbiker1966]

The little turbo hose with the 90 degree bend had split, It looked like it was older..I might as well replace all my old hoses with new ones...This would be the 2nd one in a year and the 1st one made it overheat last summer. So far the cap is doing the job. Went to full boost today on the way in to work. No further issues (fingers crossed).

 

[NHerron]

Nice! Glad to hear

 

[RayBan GST]

happy we saved you a HG job

cheers

 

[psychbiker1966]

It looks like you have saved me a HG job.. after a third small hose opened up due to excess pressure ..I took out the extra rubber off the cap with the bigger spring and now all seems to be well..The water does expand into the overflow bottle when hot but it returns into the system as it should on cool down.It seems problem is solved ,thanks to all !!

 

[NHerron]

If you want you can whip up one of these real quick to check out your cooling system, pretty easy / cheap to make!
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/art...440201-10-coolant-system-pressure-tester.html