Can it hurt anything having the steam vent attached to the wrong port on the radiator? I had mine attached to the upper port closest to the radiator cap. I have since fixed it and now my heater works better. Why?

 

If I understand your question, you had the hose from the steam pipe connected to the overflow port on the radiator neck? What did you have the overflow reservoir attached to?

Without the ability to relieve pressure caused by thermal expansion of the coolant, it would seem you run the risk of seriously overpressuring the system. Its also unlikely there was much in the way of flow through the steam pipe hose, since it would be dumping fluid on top of the radiator cap seal, instead of into the radiator. That increases the risk of detonation in the rear cylinders, because steam and air can't vent out the back of the heads.

Maybe the combination of air trapped in the back of the heads, and no way for the system to dump excess pressure from thermal expansion of the fluid canceled each other out.

 

Yes that is exactly how it was. When I went to pull of the cap it had a ton of pressure in the steam tube. I have a third gen radiator in my car. I now have the steam tube tee'd into the heater return. I have everything hooked up properly now. Do you think I did any damage? Tomorrow I am going to hook it bach up to my TB.

 

If you didn't have any indication of detonation on #7, you probably got away with no damage. If you had the knock retard system fully active in the PCM programming, it may have helped you.

I've seen a few people post that they've done away with the steam tube with "no problems", but I also know firsthand of a couple cases of high HP "power adder" applications where the lack of adequate coolant flow to #7 was blamed on poor flow in the steam tube. One guy was so paranoid that he replaced the steam tube with -10AN lines, running individually from the back of each head.

 

My car is wired and programmed the same way a 4th gen is. My SES never came on and I didn't hear any detonation. I am running a KS and the knock retard is active. It doesn't make any sense to me to deactivate it. I figure there are smarter people than me that designed the LT1 to have a steam tube. If I deleted the steam tube(not that I am) I am sure I would have problems.

 

I have an 87 s10 with an lt1. I ran my steam tube into my upper radiator hose. will this create any problems. Any info appreciated.