Overheated on track - now what?

[infernosg]

Originally Posted by vex

Come to the car show...
Borrow tools...
?????????
Profit!

Something tells me a rebuild will take more than a weekend and besides, The Mitty > CCVT car show.

I'm going to try one more bleeding technique as suggested by the Haynes manual, which involves running without the radiator cap with the car cold. If that doesn't do anything then I guess it's time for a rebuild. I can't think of any other reason why I'm getting a constant stream of gases, occasionally accompanied with coolant, flowing into the overflow bottle other than a water jacket o-ring or housing failure.

Bottom line: is there any way this could be attributed to a bad thermostat or leaking radiator/water hoses? If not, like mentioned above, it looks like rebuild time.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by infernosg

Bottom line: is there any way this could be attributed to a bad thermostat or leaking radiator/water hoses? If not, like mentioned above, it looks like rebuild time.

Not the thermostat, since it's an internal part. But in theory, if water can leak out of an extrenal part exposed to air such as a hose or radiator, then air can get in too. But you tested the system with the pressure tester and it passed, most likely you would have found a leak. Only exception to that I can think of is since the pressure test is done under static conditions (engine not running, at whatever temperature it was at when you tested it), the test could miss a leak that only occurs under some combinations of dynamic conditions (i.e. temperature cycling, vibration, etc.).