My Quail is Peein' (again)

bobpo

bobpo

Well-known member
I have noticed that if I drive my '30 coupe 45 MPH, the Quail Cap acts as though it's takinng a Pee. I make quite sure that as soon as I stop I wipe it all down with a water wet rag and clean it off.

Now this car is completely restored, with new radiator, new everything. I'm wondering if it just needs a new cap gasket. Does this make sense? I have not checked the temperature, but the leakage appears to be coming from the base of the cap and of course flies onto the hood and the windshield.

Any help appreciated. It doesn't leak below 45mph.
 
some repro radiators have a shallow detent area where the locking cap tabs seat, which prevents the cap base from clamping tightly against the gasket surface of the neck. If your gasket is old, a new one might do it. I had to double up the gaskets on one car to get it sealed. The small gasket between the top and base of the quail can seal poorly too. An O ring does a better job.
 
An additional ring can prevent "Quail Incontinence," as can keeping the coolant level beneath the baffle.

Please advise on your solution and results.
 
I had the same problem when I first acquired my A last spring and "skip" (now banned) provided good info on replacing all the gaskets associated with mounting the quail, others chimed in on where the o/flow tube should be facing (service bulletin). Fixed it.
Take yours apart and you'll see you have to attach quail adapter to the rad neck and then the quail to the adapter, everything needs to seal.
Paul in Ct
 
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The radiator is NEW, the Quail is New. The problem, I think, is that the base of the Quail cap was putting pressure on the top of the radiator as the neck of the radiator was too short for the base of the cap. Thus whenever the cap was fastened to the radiator, it was causing tension to be applied to the neck and eventually caused the neck to separate from the body of the radiator. So I had it professionally re-soldered.

Once the cap was back on the radiator, I again noticed that the cap was exerting pressure on the neck, so I carefully ground the bottom off the cap, about 1/16" all the way around. Now there was no tension. But I still believe I need either a thicker gasket, O-Ring or I need to double up on the gasket.

I'll try this and let you know.

Thanks for all the input.:)
 
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