Used a coolant pressure on my car, worrying about how the pressure is supposed to hold. it will hold at 18lbs for a really long time but it does move very very slowly. Is this normal?? how fast would it bleed down if the head gasket was no good. it seems that the level stays good and the car never over heats, im just worried about how long the pressure is supposed to hold. the car does not smoke bad, but steams alot because of the weather here, and alot of water out of the pipes but it is not coolant.

 

The longer the car sits the cooler the coolant becomes... your pressure will drop over time. How slowly is the pressure dropping? 5 minutes to 0 psi or a half hour?

 

i would say more than a half an hour it took about 10 minutes to go down 2-3 pounds on the gauge of the checker, the coolant and system was completly cold when I checked it, would that make a difference.

 

That sounds fine to me, if its not running hot, and it not low, then you shouldn't have a problem.

 

i dont think its losing any coolant, I have not been able to drive it but I add a little here and there but I dont think all the air has been worked out of the system

 

Sounds like you are holding good pressure. Adding coolant every now and then can be chalked up to a number of leaks.... some so small you'd never know where they were.

 

yea the first time I pumped it up I found a leak in the steam pipe going to the throttle body, now I guess ill just bypass that since im in thier again.

 

how fast would pressure bleed if there was a head gasket problem?

 

I'm sure you know that depending on where the steam pipe was leaking, it still needs to go to the radiator, if not through the TB.

 

yea I kno, Im just running it directly to the radiator as opposed to through the TB, dont want any blown head gaskets from no steam pipe