is there something that keeps the water from entering the resevoir prematurely? is there some type of mechanism that keeps the hose closed until there's enough pressure inside the radiator? no, i'm not talking about the radiator cap.

 

There is nothing outside the radiator cap. The cap controls the pressure inside the radiator. When the coolant expands and the pressure goes over 18psi, the spring on the cap opens and lets the coolant flow out the hose into the reservoir. When the coolant in the radiator cools and starts to pull a vacuum, another spring in the cap opens and lets the vacuum pull coolant out of the reservoir into the radiator.

The only thing the reservoir needs, since it is below the radiator water level, is a siphon tube that goes all the way down to the bottom of the reservoir, so the hose is always full of coolant.

If the hose from the radiator overflow to the reservoir has a hole in it, the system won't work, because instead of the vacuum pulling the coolant back up from the reservoir, it allows air into the system.

Are you having a specific problem?

 

as a matter of fact, injuneer, i'm having quite a bit of problems with the cooling system...

here's what it does: when i put water into the radiator, the friggin thing starts coming out of the resevoir...

there's no chocolate milk, so i seriously doubt that it's a heads problem.

just changed the rediator cap.

i pulled out one of the hoses, and turned on the car...and sure enough, the water pump is pumping water...

there are no leaks (other than what you pointed out about a possible hole in the resevoir).

the car would be cool if the damn resevoir didnt let all the water out.

i thought it was the t-stat, so i got mad and pulled it all the way out..yes, i'm running t-stat-less.

 

You'll get "muddy" coolant if you are getting oil in the system, but if you are blowing combustion gasses into the coolant, its not necessarily going to look too evil. But the pressure will blow the coolant out through the cap. The only way coolant can get past the correct pressure cap is if there is excessive pressure building up inside the system, and the thing that builds up pressure is excessive heat boiling the coolant, or combustion gasses blowing into the coolant. Have you had the coolant tested for combustion gasses?

 

combustion gasses??? no, havent had it tested for that.

well, if it were combustion gases, then it would be consistent, but it's not...sometimes it happens...and then it's ok for WEEKS and then it happens again...

if there was some kind of a leak, once the engine reached a certain temp, it would happen, but it doesnt.

it was acting bad last night, so i just tried the resevoir tube, and it's been fine ever since...

i was thinking that maybe if there's air in the system, it pushes the air out...