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OMG!!! Bubbles!

I drive a '91 Plymouth Sundance RS 2.5 4 cyl w/ 205,000 miles (30,000 miles on used junkyard engine).

Ok, I was coming home from school today. When I parked into my driveway, I decided to leave engine running. I opened the hood and decided to, out of curiousity, check my coolant while the engine was on. Well, you know the common saying: "Go Looking For Trouble, And You're Bound To Find It!!! I took the lid off the overflow bottle for the engine coolant, and you know what I saw? Bubbles! That's right, a steady flow of bubbles coming up through there!

Is this anything to take seriously? Does this mean that my head gasket is going bad again?

Or could it be something relatively simple? I sure hope so... ;-D

Engine doesn't overheat at all. It runs really cool (slightly past 2nd mark over C, or 1/4 mark, when driving) even in 95 Degree weather. I use a 180 Degree Thermostat. Fan comes on at center of the gauge. There are no wild temperature gauge fluctuations either, and it stays pretty stable. I never have to add coolant at all even after long trips, so there's not coolant loss or leaks. The coolant in overflow puke tank stays between MIN and MAX when cold and goes to MAX when temp gauge gets to the center by when the fan kicks on. I had the head gasket replaced last December about 10,000 miles ago and a valve job done as well. Right after that, I replaced the radiator, radiator cap, hoses, and thermostat. Recently, I had water pump/alt belt replaced, too.

Reply to
Robby2687
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Since you mention that the head gasket was replaced, we should be able to rule that out. It could be air in the system, but I am not sure if it would act like that. I would suggest trying to bleed the air out. There is a plug in the thermostat housing for this purpose.

When the headgasket failed on my 2.5, coolant would be forced into the recovery tank, until the system was low on coolant.

-Kirk Matheson

Reply to
kmatheson

Or it could be that since he un-corked an already hot system, pockets of coolant flashed to steam immediately when the pressure was released causing a flow of "bubbles" through the overflow. If it 'bubbles' with the engine COLD, then it might be a real problem. If its running cool and not losing coolant, leave the cap on when the engine's hot and monitor the coolant level carefully over a few weeks.

Reply to
Steve

I tried to bleed the air (just to make sure) by taking the hex screw off of the top of the thermostat housing. But. I was unable to get the screw out because it seemed stuck. Instead, I put car on incline, opened radiator cap and let engine run with it off until the air bubbles were gone. No help.

I notice that the patterns of the bubbles in the overflow go like this:

The bubbles seem to come > snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote:

Reply to
Robby2687

Put a combustion gas sniffer on it.

Reply to
« Paul »

I did "not" touch that radiator cap while the system was hot and engine running! The cap I opened to check coolant was the one for the plastic overflow bottle (recovery tank marked with MIN and MAX).

Anyway, I d> snipped-for-privacy@sisna.com wrote:

Reply to
Robby2687

I'm wondering if you have the correct mix of antifreeze and water. Even if you live in a warm climate you still need to run a 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze. The antifreeze also provides lubrication for the water pump.

Another possibility is the radiator cap is not maintaining pressure.

HTH Gyz

Reply to
Gyzmologist

Reply to
Robby2687

The only sure way to see if you are having a failure on you head gasket is take you car to a shop and ask kindly if they take their emission tester and take a sniff in the radiator. The tester will clearly show them if you have any exhaust or hyrdrocarbon appearing in your coolant.

SCOTT

Reply to
Scott S.

In that case, you need a new radiator pressure cap. Its not holding the full system pressure, and is allowing coolant/vapor to escape into the overflow bottle when the engine's hot.

Reply to
Steve

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