Marks of coolant 'spray' on radiator side

[roks]

Hi All,

So I had a slow weeping lean on my radiator, I guess since I bought the car perhaps. Progressivly got worse to point I was losing expansion tank coolant over 6 months.

I have changed the radiator now but now I see jet spray of coolant on the plastic flange of the radiator, directly below the radiator cap.

Does the cap release some pressure? I this normal?

I never seen this before...I guess because its been leaking out?

Thanks in advance.

[Corolla2004]

The cap on my 2004 Corolla needed replacing recently because it was leaking. Looks like they fail after about 15 years. It was cheap & of course easy to replace .. I bought an OE one from an eBay seller.

[roks]

Hi,

The radiator came with a new cap, when I noticed the spay of coolant, I thought it was faulty so I put back the original and that too it doing the same.

Thanks

[RabButler]

Head gasket failure pressurising the cooling system?

[roks]

🙄 As bad as that?

Man, thats the end of the corolla, I dont think I got the nack to change the head gasket.

[furtula]

You checked for bubbles in the expansion tank, to see if it pressurizes the system?

[oldcodger]

13 hours ago, roks said:

🙄 As bad as that?

Man, thats the end of the corolla, I dont think I got the nack to change the head gasket.

Before runninmg off with the worst senarios  like head gastket, cracked head or block, better to spend some time to properly check the situaltion, starting off with the simplest free test of examining the oil filler cap for creamy sludge.

Is the enigne running sweet indicating its firing well on all 4 pots, though you can pressure test each cylinder, as in the link below.

It could just be an actual leak from the seam of the new radiator, nothing more than that .

Have a look at this and other similar testing videos which should help establish where the problem is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zpNjYmmiYY

[roks]

Thanks guys, hope everyone is safe and well.

I've not had any long drives, just local 10miles round trips, not seen any further mark and no white stuff on the oil cap, no issue with the engine, coolant temperature 88-93'c.

I dont know if its because I didnt push the engine hard enough ie motorway speed or the bleeding I did after seeing the marks (parked on a steep incline topped up to full mark).

I did not see any marks along the seams, I did however noticed the coolant level drop about 2mm from the FULL mark.

Regards

[oldcodger]

Hi,

After changing the rad /antifreeze you will generally find you need to top up every few days as all the air is fully expelled from the system.

A level difference of 2mm could simply be down to outside air temperature variations with these sunny days and frosty nights.

I'm just wondering if when you filled up , some water was splashed around and hung under the filler cap area etc , then when you started the car the vibrations shook those drops off onto the hose, making you think it was a leak ?

 

16 hours ago, roks said:

(parked on a steep incline topped up to full mark).