Coolant Tank Boiling?

[Sil1580]

ok...after about a half hour of driving i drive into the garage and i notice a smell and hear something boiling....so i pop the hood and the boiling becomes louder....then i notice it's the coolant tank boiling. What is causing the coolant tank to boil?

[misnomer]

The coolant boils because it gets too hot. . . :P

Try replacing your radiator cap, see if that resolves the problem. The cap holds in pressure which raises the boiling point of the coolant. If it's getting weak, it will spill over some pressurized coolant into the overflow bottle where it will boil due to lack of pressure.

If that doesn't solve it, you'll need to further troubleshoot your cooling system (blech).

[lbcklik1486]

It could be something with the ratio of anti-freeze to water, you usually want 50/50 so that it maximizes the highest boiling point and the lowest freezing point, along w/ the cap being bad...

[deviousKA]

it sounds like it could be boiling but just in case you should check your head gasket to. ive ran across many bubbly radiators due to head gasket and/or a ditched head. take off your radiator cap when the car is running but not very warm. let the car warm up some more but not to the temp that you think your coolant would start to boil. give it a couple revs and if you see bubbles your head gasket could be to blame, opening a gap to the combustion chamber.

[Diablo]

I have the same problem and it's really starting to get to me!!!

I can drive the car for miles and it dosn't overheat. Even if I put foot once or twice, she dosn't boil. But as soon as I keep running higher revs, the water starts to boil out the resevoir.

Are there any other ways of telling it's the head gasket?

[kandyflip445]

Originally posted by devious
it sounds like it could be boiling but just in case you should check your head gasket to. ive ran across many bubbly radiators due to head gasket and/or a ditched head. take off your radiator cap when the car is running but not very warm. let the car warm up some more but not to the temp that you think your coolant would start to boil. give it a couple revs and if you see bubbles your head gasket could be to blame, opening a gap to the combustion chamber.

If you do check to see if it is a blown head gasket that way MAKE SURE IT IS ALREADY WELL BLED! If you don't you could get seriously injured. Even if you do you still could be. All because there could be an air pocket in the system and when it heats up it could cause a pretty big geyser. I'd try the cap first. Also, if you haven't changed your fluid in a while I would suggest doing that also.

[kandyflip445]

Originally posted by Diablo
I have the same problem and it's really starting to get to me!!!

I can drive the car for miles and it dosn't overheat. Even if I put foot once or twice, she dosn't boil. But as soon as I keep running higher revs, the water starts to boil out the resevoir.

Are there any other ways of telling it's the head gasket?

That sounds like a bad head gasket. Take it to a mechanic and tell him about that and to check it. You can do it the way devious said or use a 4-gas analyser and stick it up to the radiator filler neck and see if there are any combustion gases(carbon monoxide) coming out of there. I don't think you want to buy a 4-gas analyser though cause they are expensive. You could also run your car till it gets to normal running temperature. Pull your plugs and see if any of them are "steam cleaned." If one of them is then you have found the cyl. that had the leak in it.