Consuming Coolant

Smitty

Smitty

Well-known member
I was on a long trip last weekend and while climbing through the mountains suddenly saw some foam coming out around the radiator cap. Discovered I was down about 3 quarts of coolant. Same thing happened again next day.
Never had this problem before.. Pushing out the overflow while pulling up the mountain highways?

Steve
 
Thats why I went to a closed system, and a B water pump which has no way to install a fan. and she never over heats, even when I climb our mountains. Iceman
 
Steve, how is your overflow tube positioned relative to the radiator neck? I had a problem with coolant from the return pipe going straight down the overflow tube until I bent it so its end is under the lip of the neck at the engine side. Also, how full was your radiator after you added the 3 qts of coolant? HTH.
 
Actually had that conversation with Joe @ Tams yesterday. My overflow tube seems to be near the top of the neck. Some of the guys in our Minuteman club are running overflow tanks.
I have not had a problem since returning home and have not leaked a drop. Must have been those climbs through the White Mountains. Trips to Manchester VT never bothered it though...only difference in I am now running a overdrive.
 
I don't claim to be a guru, but I had a similar problem. I had the occasion to run my car for a very few seconds about four times while I was testing my garage to see if I could park my cars in tandem. The engine never got warm. Later, I saw a couple of drops of water on the engine pan just below the carb. As I watched, more drops fell from the # 3 area of the exhaust manifold. It was leaking from the exhaust manifold gasket. I took it out for a 12 mile test drive to get it fully warmed up. I noticed that on a hard pull up a hill at about 50 mph the rad. spit out the cap. At less power it did not. I thought I might have a leaking head gasket although the car ran fine. I assumed that the higher cylinder pressure under load climbing the hill cause the leak to pressurize the rad. Took the head off and sure enough, I had a leak between the #2 and #3 exhaust valves. I think there may have been also another failure causing the rad spitting under load. I think the reason it did not show up before is because I always had the engine fully warmed up before. This caused the leak to not show up because the water would steam away from the hot exhaust man. Also I was down about 3 quarts of water when I checked it. The leaks were so small that the engine performance was not affected.
 
Running an overdrive under a heavy load (pulling up a mountain) will overheat. I watch my temp gauge, and when I go into O/D, the temp rises as I go faster. If I run at 65 MPH, temp is right at 210. If I back down to 60, temp falls to 180/190, This on a 98+ degree day in Texas. My engine is new, so I watch the temp carefully. I don't mind running up to 200 Degrees, but try to hold below 210. If I start to overheat in O/D, I shift out of O/D and let the engine wind to higher RPM's. I can run at normal temps up to about 60 out of O/D. I never go into O/D below 45 MPH because of the torque load on the engine at lower engine speeds.
 
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