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Took the car out today, with bad results!!


datwhitecavy

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Well, finally got the tranny back in the car after being built blah blah.

Went out today for some last minute fine tuning with the laptop before I hit the dyno. Car was driving fine, had some good pulls then noticed my car was spiking boost on some WOT pulls. My MAP sensor is limited to 14.7 psi, but I was hitting 15 and 16 psi for some reason making the car act funny..

 

Anyway I get back home so I can turn down the boost, get out and notice my car is leaking coolant out the front, wtf!!! I pop the hood and can't find where its coming from, im like daaaamit!!

 

Pull it into the garage, pull the front bumper off and notice my damn radiator is cracked!!! The part thats on both sides of the radiator. Its black on mine, where the drain plug is.

 

I think the reason is because I have air in my system, causing it to come out of my overflow tank where the cap is, thus finally breaking my radiator under pressure.(btw, the coolant is boiling in the overflow tank) wtf!! again lol

 

I get my new radiator tomorrow, so hopefully next street tuning session goes smoothly!!

 

 

Dammit, I forgot to ask, why would my coolant be boiling in the overflow tank? Is it because of what I thought, I have air in the system?

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boiling over is from over heating. you might not have enough radiator to cool your horse power. i know it doesn't sound like it makes any sense but it can happen.

 

air in the system won't blow out the end tanks.

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I would be checking to make sure you don't have trany fluid in your coolant. You say you just rebuilt the tranny so if it has incressed pressure and you have an older radiator, the cooler in the radiator might have went. Tranny fluid definitly gets hotter than coolant. Just something to check.
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Yes stock radiator, but its 11 years old.

 

I wasn't overheating because we had the laptop hooked up and it was reading at 185 degrees the whole time.

 

I get my new radiator today, and im going to have the coolant flushed professionally with the cyfon(sp) just to make sure I get all the air out.. Unfortunately, there aren't aftermarket radiators for the J-bodys, unless its custom :(

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This is probably a result of noobs welcoming noobs.

 

However, you should probably listen to AJ. Your coolant is boiling because it got too hot. Get a good radiator then go out and log your temps.

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Few things to check for:

 

Replace the radiator, it obviously need it.

 

Completely flush the radiator/coolant system as having air in the system can cause overheating and a full overflow tank.

 

At least pressure test your cooant system and get a tester for checking for a blown head gasket, as well. Not very expensive, at all.

 

If it passes those, I'd start watching your temps under boost, etc. When you were out cruising around, did you start having heating issues after alot of spirited driving or just a couple pulls? It's not exactly hot outside.

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Sounds to me as if you are overheating. If you boiling in the overflow thats hot. The sides are called tanks. If you cracked the tanks, was your coolant ratio off? Its been pretty cold, too much water in the system can do that to you.

 

Drop a new rad in, flush it, fill it with some good stuff, top it off with some 40 below and run the piss out of it like you intended to do.

 

Good Luck.

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Thanks guys,

 

Couple things.

Head isn't pulling, I had the head off last fall, checked the headgasket and its fine, its a cometic one.. Also torqued my ARP head studs to spec.

 

ImUrOBGYN- As we were driving, we were also watching the temps, were fine.. I have a water temp gauge and also monitoring on the laptop..

 

Bottom line is, yes i need a new rad, will do that now, will flush the system and pressure test, will do the right mixture ratio.. Oh, and ill also remove my condensor since I dont have A/C anymore.. That could of also been part of the overheating problem..

 

The radiator was being blocked by the intercooler, tranny cooler, oil cooler and then A/c condensor.

 

We'll see what happens..

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Well, below is the beauty I just bought, significally bigger than stock.. It also comes with a SPAL fan that is 14 inches, stock fan is like 10 or 11 inches. CFM is somewhere between 2800 and 3200.

 

This is a picture from the guys that already received theirs.. Mine should be here Monday, or Tuesday.

 

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p196/sbhm69/radiators/rad5.jpg

 

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p196/sbhm69/radiators/rad1.jpg

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just so you know your temp gauge can read right due to air pockets. you can get air traped right there by the sensor and it will read what it was before it got the air and the hot air will keep it there but not make it hotter. water boils at 220*, with a sealed system that will raise the boiling point if you pressure. with cracked tanks its an open system and very easy to boil over. i have worked on cars that boil over (even with 50/50 coolant mix) then you put the cap on and all is well. 1980's corvettes come to mind with that one.
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Aj. thanks for the info, I didnt know that.

 

Thank goodness I didnt run the car long, or else Id worry about the head, but it was up and down the street with 3 pulls.. But enough to make it boil..

 

Ill be pulling the front apart starting tomorrow and keep ya'll updated.. See how many more cracks I can find hehe.

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Hey yea, Ive been slacking.. I had a death in the family over the weekend.. But I did get the new radiator mounted.. Im just waiting on a friend to come over to help wire it, I hate wiring.. Im not sure if I need all the wires that came with the fan or what, im not doing a manual over ride, thats all configured in my tune already to come on at 180 degrees.. So I just need to know If i just connect power and ground to my stock plug from the new fan..

I should have pics up tomorrow.

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