Still losing coolant out the cap

[M.P. Cobra Fan]

I had this same freggin problem this weekend. I got on the interstate and coolant sprayed my windsheild. I looked down at my temp gauge and it was fine. It then started rising. I pulled off and checked the coolant tank. Empty. Just the night before the trip I had checked the coolant. I thought maybe I just left the cap loose. I replaced the cap and topped off the tank to the add coolant line. For two days I washed down the engine and kept smelling coolant. The tank went half empty. Figured it took in the extra and "burped". Topped it back off. Went to get a pressure test at Goodyear and they told me it was overfull. They could not rpessure test though. Took it to Ford and they said nothing about it being over filled.

So where the **** are these things supposed to be filled to? I have not had a problem since. Just dont like this problem.

 

[SnakeBit]

I had this problem on my car. Found out the previous owner had the cooling system drained and refilled just before I bought the car. After reading this post by SnakeBit, I took a turkey baster and an empty Mountain Dew (it MUST be Mountain Dew) can and pulled 12 ounces of coolant out of my "EXPANSION" tank. This put the coolant level just above the Add Coolant line. Drove the snot out of it yesterday and immediately checked it when I got home and no more coolant puking out :banana:

Thanks SnakeBit :idea:

Been there. Done that. Glad I could help. :beer:

 

[gnxs]

the reservoir itself could be the problem... I have read about the threads being warped

Assuming it's burped correctly, this could very well be an issue. If the car has ever had the resevoir boil over, it may never seal correctly again. The plastic gets warped and never seals right. Kept happening to me and a new overflow cured it.

 

[Nukem1040]

I'm another victim of this problem. I just bought this car and it happened. The previous owner said what every other previous owner would say, "Never happened to me".:fm: while the motor was cool, I would go down about half a mile, smell antifreeze, turn around and go back. Pop the hood, and see it sprayed everywhere and a puddle underneath. I got the pressure kit from Advance Auto and had that thing almost maxed out for about 5 min. Kept pressure, no problem. I swapped the intercooler with the overflow cap. PERFECT. Drove for about an hour and the dash gauge was in the middle. After I hit some traffic, the gauge started going up so I pulled over and as soon as I shut it off, pop, the cap went again. It is constantly overflowing and the gauge is going up. I will check with that cool diagnostic feature on our car(thanks to the one who posted that info on here) and see what temp I'm running at. Fan turns on every time also. I will keep you updated when I burp it. Any other suggetions? Thanks guys

 

[black99lightnin]

I'm another victim of this problem. I just bought this car and it happened. Any other suggetions? Thanks guys

I'm selling(giving) mine. Tired of dealing with it, and it seems to be more and more common. Selling the L also, then buying a GT500.:rockon:

 

[powersof12]

I got my 2003 used with 900 miles on it and basically no mods (still had rubber nubbins on the stock tires). The guy was a car show guru and the entire car was perfect. He never drove it more then 20 miles from home. I drove it 200 miles home the first day and saw a tiny dribble of coolant out of the cap. Everytime I took the cap off and reinstalled it, it would not click, and just loosen again. I bought a new cap from Ford ($7) and it has never happend again (1 year ago). I guess it could have been a little full from the factory but I just thought I had a bad cap. Granted, I have never raced it and actually only floored it a dozen times (usually in second gear). Very weird that so many people have radiator cap problems on these cars.

 

[Nukem1040]

I'm going to do mine now at the shop because I have to replace my belt tenshioner also. Squeeling like a pig. A ? just came to mine while I'm attempting to burp it. After I fill the xover tube and drive it around to warm it up before I repeat the process, what if my car doesn't make it for the "warm up" part and the cap pops again? I will be unable to burp it completly. Just a thought. I'll let you guys know tonight.

 

[Nukem1040]

:banana:epper::rockon::beer::burnout::dancenana:
Good to go. The first "burp", I drove around and then it over heated from the cap. I checked it and it was full. I "burped" it again and I had to add ALOT in the xover tube. Drove all over, shut it off, checked the xover tube. When I loosened the xover screw, it would spew out, so I knew I was full. I did the little diagnostic (bad ass!!!) and the car ran an average between 97 and 99. Hit 100 I think twice. I had ALOT of codes come up but then again, ALOT is done to this car. I'll look that up this week. Thanks guys and SVTP!:dancenana:

 

[wikedcobra312]

Take it to the stealership and let them get the air out and be done with it.

i was going to do the cooling system flush myself, but with all the problems everyone was having with burping the car, i said screw it, and took it there and got my tranny flushed as well, came out to like $130. couldnt be happier!!!!! i didnt even want to ask why it was soo cheap.

 

[mitrls10]

Hello everybody, I just registered on the site and was doing some research on some coolant expansion tanks cause I heard of a new 1 out and then seen the problem most of ya'll are having. I'm a ASE certified Master Tech and L1 certified so if any1 has any crazy probs that no1 can figure out just let me know and I'll tell ya how to fix it but on the coolant leaking out of the cap problem there are 4 main causes that causes it to happen and here is what to do.. The 1st cause is overfilled system bring it up to operating temp and back down fluid to correct level and run it and if it dont go away 2nd, take the cap off and inspect it for cracked gasket or any other obvious problems if it does replace it and if that dont fix it 3rd, these cars are notorious for having a air pocket and it probably has a air pocket in the system if the system has ever been opened or you add any aftermarket parts and it causes coolant surge and extreme expansion so go to your local autozone and rent a coolant pressure tester and pump up the system to roughly 20-22psi and let it sit for a few minutes each time you do it and repeat bout 10 times so it will force fluid into any air pocket and then run the vehicle with the coolant cap off with the heater on max heat and let it get to operating temp and hold rpms between 2000-2500 for a few minutes and then (surge it) let rpms drop then go up drop then go up like that for a few minutes and then hold it back to 2000-2500 for a couple more mins and it gauranteed to purge the air then repeat the rpm process with the cap on and check coolant temp and drive it and see if the problem persists, 4th if its still doing it after that go to autozone and rent a block tester, it is a clear looking graduated cylinder with rubber ends on it and a squeeze ball and blue block test fluid. Get vehicle up to operating temp and make sure the coolant is at least 2 inches below where the cylinders tapered end goes into the tank so you do not suck coolant in the tool, if any coolant gets in the tool you will get a false reading (the tool just gets the vapors thats how it checks for combustion gases) fill the fill block test fluid to fill line in the block tester, hold the tapered end in coolant tank and put ball in top of the tool with the metal check valve facing upwards and squeeze it for a couple of minutes if the fluid turns yellow you have slight combustion gases in coolant and if it turns green you have a lot of combustion gases in coolant and this indicates you have a cracked head, block, coolant passage or leaking head gasket indicating a rebuild of some sort and all of these increase coolant pressure and cause it to vent out of the cap.. That should take care of that problem, so if you can test your own its relatively easy check it and let me know the results.. Thanks.

Tim

 

[jm@ReischePerf]

The biggest problem people have with the cooling system on these cars is incorrectly re-filling the system: The reservoir must be filled then capped and left alone or air can enter the system. Re-filling, burping and checking for level should be done at the crossover tube always. After opening/draining/re-filling the system, it must be topped off at the crossover tube when the car is cold/off later on. The problem is that trapped air does not find it's way into the reservoir bottle but collects in the crossover which is the highest point.

2nd: Sealing problems at the cap/reservoir seal are common and sometimes even the reservoir bottle may need to be replaced to resolve it.

3rd: IMO small head gasket leaks that only occasionally occur under boost/WOT are difficult to detect may be the culprit of sporadic coolant puking episodes. There have been many people over the years chasing down an overheating issue for months/years that eventually came to this conclusion.

 

[P49Y-CY]

Hello everybody, I just registered on the site and was doing some research on some coolant expansion tanks cause I heard of a new 1 out and then seen the problem most of ya'll are having. I'm a ASE certified Master Tech and L1 certified so if any1 has any crazy probs that no1 can figure out just let me know and I'll tell ya how to fix it Thanks.

Tim

hey man, you can't get pm's yet so lemme ask here (sorry to highjack thread, op)

tim a couple months ago i tried to remove the heater hoses from the firewall but could not do it. here is a link to the thread: http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...me-heater-hose-quick-disconnect-fittings.html

do you have any tips i can try to get those hoses off of the heater core?

thx :beer:

chris

 

[d3m01iti0n]

I was just a victim of coolant puke. I drove around for maybe 20 mins on an averagely warm day and suddenly had boiling coolant vapor dumping out my hood vents. I pulled over and the entire coolant tank had boiled out and dumped all over the parking lot. I let it cool a while, when and got more coolant, filled it back up step by step according the the manual.

I drove 5 mins down the road and pulled off before the highway just to check. It was hissing a little bit. Pulled into Ford and put a new cap on.

Get on the highway. 4th gear, mild acceleration and it bucked at about 3k. Oh shit. Pull off again. Its pissing a little coolant. Took it around some back roads, hit boost a couple times and seems fine. Start heading back towards the hw, hit 3k and she bucks again. Parked it again. Cooled off, got on the hw, and my temp gauge spiked. Pulled off in another parking lot and was puking coolant again. Each time it winds up back on the max fill level. Let it cool, gave her some revs, and wont go over 3k again and the temp spikes.

What the hell? Ive seen some similar issues in this thread but mine is pretty bad and Im going to have it towed at this point. Any ideas?

 

[gtmustang00]

I'm thinking its a head gasket and the cooling system is being pressurized. Anybody think that?

 

[JB]

I was just a victim of coolant puke. .... Any ideas?

Since you didn't state the obvious, I have to ask the obvious....

Is the fan working??

The tank could be warped, in which case new caps won't help

Could also be weak hose/clamps not holding enough pressure and then sucking air in on cooldown

.

 

[jm@ReischePerf]

Pulled off in another parking lot and was puking coolant again. Each time it winds up back on the max fill level. Let it cool, gave her some revs, and wont go over 3k again and the temp spikes.

This here is air in the system. You need to be sure you refill it properly every time coolant pukes out: Ford 4.6L DOHC Coolant Refill & Burp Procedure by Reische Performance Products

Then you need to figure out why it's overheating. Probably a good idea to go ahead and replace the cap but also your thermostat could be going bad. Also we are starting to see a lot of fan failures this summer- probably from the crazy heat plus these cars are getting older... dead fans even on cars with less than 50,000 miles.

 

[d3m01iti0n]

Fan seems to be running fine.

 

[jm@ReischePerf]

Fan seems to be running fine.

Sometimes they run slow or intermittently.

 

[d3m01iti0n]

Well obviously I prefer to solve most problems on my own, but at this point Im just going to bring it to a local guy who knows the cars in and out and have him do it. The coolant fixes described here I could do myself, its the stutter at 3k that Im worried about and whether its an overheat thats affecting it, or something simple like plugs. Better safe than sorry, yknow?

 

[d3m01iti0n]

UPDATE: I got the car home okay. No way was I leaving it in that parking lot overnight, and it was only a quick 10 minute drive at 35mph the whole way. While it sat, the coolant in the reservoir had drained out, but starting the car brings it back to max. Didnt puke or overheat on the way home.

Still bringing it into the shop however, as I need to check on that thermostat, trace the 3k rpm hesitation, and swap my plugs as a precaution.