the humble radiator cap work this one out

had trouble with cooling system on a au ford ute with 73600 km 1st garage preesure tested nothing wrong 2nd garage same as above took ute home onto sloping drive way opened bonnet engine running top header full no problems 1 month later opened bonett no coollent back to above garages @tested again 1 rang @ said new radiator needed had very small leak at bottom of tank so new hoses @radiator fitted topheader tank ok xmas 09 1 month later check for coollent none in top header tank cost $595.00 the moral of the storey is for $9.95 i could have fixed it myself i am stillwondering weather if there was any wrong with the old radiator also found out a lot of components in radators now are made of plastic eg side tanks on radators ! ! how would these radators go in 45g plus heat in the out back so im just going to check that radiator cap

Howdy Malcolm,
When they pressure tested the system the first time they didn't find anything wrong?..... it's a hard call to forgive a mechanic who hasn't then tested the radiator cap also....(especially when it ends up costing you $500 because of a untested radiator cap.)
I am sure it's probably one of the causes of blown head gaskets.... did you ever find out where the coolant was going the first time?..... you might have had a water injection sytem happening through the head gasket.... time will tell.

I had to replace a near new thermostat recently, because the engine just wasn't getting hot enough. The thermostat had seized or stuck open....

good luck with your ford.....
(FixOrRepairDaily) (FoundOnRoadsideDitch)

hi ferrous finder there was no water in the sump it was leaking down the body of the ute it wasnt till i had in the drive way that i noticed the coolant dropping down the thermost had also been replaced because i had same trouble as you temp gauge not moving over quarter of dial still donst move any further it may be that fords engines do that i dont know had fords be for 2 blown head gasgets before on 1998 staton wagon so will just keep aeye on it thanks for your post ferrous great fourm cheers mal ex kiwi

had a similar problem with mq patrol turbo diesel was using water when it got hot towing or high speed work all the symptons of a cracked head or worse did all the pressure tests didn't show any problem had the radiator cleaned did nothing to help. put a new cap on (the old one looked good ) an the problem was fixed

hi dogbox i will work on the problems and you can put the radiator caps on between the two of us we will make a fortune $$$$$$ ex kiwi mal

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