what the....

[Swish]

ok so as i was coming off an on ramp to a highway i shift into third and i hear a pop , well like a pop mixed with the sound of a soda can being crushed, I look in the side view and i see a small black cloud, and so i freak out , thinking to myself, Oh shyt not another turbo...

Well nothing happened about 4 mins later the coolant temp starts to go up, not extremely high but about half an inch from where it normal sits. So i pull of at the next exit and pop the hood . I see nothing really.. all i see is coolant on rubber UICP and around the thermostat housing area, It wasn't pouring out or anything just steam coming from the rad cap. The fluid looked like it may have shot from the rad cap and was blown back by the fans. I say this because there is NO coolant anywhere else.

SO i get back and the car and continue on to my friends house which is about an extra 10 miles away. and while im driving nothing is wrong.. so now im confused!

wth happened???

I had a friend tell me maybe the head raised a little and something about some pressure .. i dont know i cant remember what he said.. i was to busy looking while he was talking on the phone.

 

[jwahl16]

Well if your rad cap even moved to the half open position you would have hot high pressurized coolant spraying everywhere. I would do a compression to test to make sure it wasn't your head gasket, i doubt it is because you kept driving your car but you never know.

 

[LiquidX]

Do a compression test but yo should not have continued driving after hearing that awful noise and not knowing what happened.

It sounded like a blown coupler at first but then you had coolant everywhere Check your oil for oddities and same thing with the coolant. You are looking for water in the oil and oil in the coolant.

 

[e30_fiend]

I'm willing to bet it was the cap. If it wasn't seated correctly, it wouldn't take much to pop it off. The raise in coolant temp leads me to believe that you had lost some coolant and didn't have enough to keep the motor as cool as before. Personally, I would have at the VERY least let it cool down and add some water or coolant if you had it. Nothing scares me more than coolant related problems haha. They cause SO many problems.

Do a compression test and also check all of you vital fluids. Check your oil for coolant as well.



Taylor

 

[Swish]

I did let it cool down after i pulled off at the exit.. and when i got to my buddies house we took his truck somewhere and wheni came back it was cool enough to add coolant.. so i filled it up.

And i drove it 20 miles home no probs what so ever.

as for the coolant spray.. it wasnt all over the place.. try to imagine a small vac tube shooting water into the air and using a can of air to blow it backwards.. that wa about all it shot out.. nothing else was covered just from where the cooling fan blew it.. no leaks anywhere. its parked now i will check in the AM to see if there were any leaks from over night..

honestly the damn car runs a little better and idles a little better :\ weird!

 

[e30_fiend]

The gremlin effd up and cut the wrong wire. Now it runs better. Doh!! Haha

 

[Swish]

e_30,

I found the problem. Come to find out the little black gasket inside the radiator cap was broken and half of it was missing. I could pour coolant in the system until it filled up to the brim and then squeeze the Upper Radiator line and watch the coolant shoot from under the cap..

just though you all would want to know..