Cooling system seems like its being pressurized

bo0st said:

How much did that cap cost you?

Click to expand...

It was about $25. I bought it off of Amazon here:http://www.amazon.com/Mishimoto-MMRC-13S-Small-Rated-Radiator/dp/B002CXAQ02

The picture says 16psi but its a 19psi. It is made in China but it has been working for me.

99gsxboy said:

Are you still getting the brown discoloration in your coolant? It could be that some of your system has rusted internally from improper coolant mixtures. Why not try flushing the entire system and refilling with fresh coolant and see if that helps

Click to expand...

The discoloration is gone. I have lost so much coolant that it has been flushed about 4 times. Whatever it was is gone.

I came home from the movies Thursday night, walked outside and saw a puddle. I pushed the car backwards and inspected the puddle and discovered it was coolant. I open the hood and coolant is everywhere. One of the heater core hoses exploded. I take them off and find the inside of the hose is covered with some brown scale stuff and the hose has cracks inside of both of the hoses. They have been replaced. Whatever the brown scale was likely covered the entire system and may have been the chocolate milk looking stuff.

jared98gst said:

Cooling system seems like its being pressurized

Click to expand...

There are definitely some unknown issues with the car. I have been killing gremlins since the motor was rebuilt. The car is tuned so there may be much more heat than stock and MAY be the cause of the pressure.

Well I thought I would resurrect this to let everyone know what happened. I feel like one of those stubborn noobs that ignores the general advice given.

So it appears it is the headgasket. It may not be an outright failure, but the gasket, coupled with the headbolts. Apparently when under load with boost(the only time this shows up) the head bolts cannot handle the amount of pressure, causing gasket failure. The top radiator hose gets filled with air, micro air bubbles continually float to the thermostat housing and coolant is always flowing out the housing as well.

I tried all the tricks but can't get around it. I need a new headgasket and ARP studs to fix the problem. It may be there is a small hole in the gasket, will know for sure when I tear it down. It seems only the coolant is contaminated, but the oil remains pure. This would explain why the coolant would smell like gasoline fumes, and combustion by-product. I remember re-torquing the headbolts when I first got it back and a few of them were not even hand tight.

Its crazy to think, I AutoXed and tracked the car in this condition. Thankfully it does not APPEAR to be damaged.

Sorry yall if I wasted your time on this. I am glad my eyes were opened to see what yall had been saying the whole time. I guess I didn't want to believe that I would have to tear the car down again.

Thanks for the help guys.

To float the head you would need more than just bolt ons.

Rent a cooling system pressure tester from your local auto part stores and report back.

The brown stuff is rust, it happens, alot. Your hoses are probably shot and if they look ok they could be filled with sludge

Replace all of your cooling system hoses. Strictly a vendor here sells a complete 9 piece hose kit for $90. Pull the trigger

If your thermostat hasn't been changed in the year you've posted this thread I can put money on it that it is rusted and slimed shut too.

Start with the simplest thing first before you tear into it. How worthless would it be to completely rebuild the head and head gasket only to have the exact same problem after dropping all that time ans money because of a blocked thermostat or clogged coolant hose