I was smelling coolant and noticed that the coolant reservoir was overflowing. The coolant temperature gauge was showing normal - increasing to 1/3 scale and holding there. Turned out the cap was the lever-type and was not sealing well, so I replaced the cap and all is fine again.
The thought struck me that if I could monitor the coolant pressure, I would have a better chance to see more quickly if this happens again. I've got 0-15psi and 0-30ps gauges on hand. Also a 15-0-30 vacuum pressure gauge.The 0-15 gauge actually will go to 20psi and easiest to read, but 15-0-30 would show both pressure and vacuum, which could be helpful to detect leaks (?)
I have added pressure gauges to industrial tanks and found that 1/8 OD stainless steel tubing works best. Larger size tubing gives quicker response but for this purpose 1/8 I think would be fine. Plus 1/8 will "filter" out any pressure vibrations that sometimes cases gauges to fail early.
Anyone done this before and recommend a different method?