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By 'GB'ird - 16 Years Ago
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Just had a weird experience. I replaced the 13psi cap with a 7psi on my '55 292 Bird. After a good drive (up to running temp) I came home and found a steady drip of coolant from the overflow pipe. Nothing unusual there maybe- except it wasn't hot. The rad and all hoses were but the expanding coolant wasn't. How the heck can this be? Richard
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By paul2748 - 16 Years Ago
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Do you fill it too much? It should not be filled all the way to the bottom of the filler neck. It should be at least one inch below the bottom of the filler neck. If not overfilled, put the 13 pounder back on. The replacement caps from the suppliers (at least as far as the TBird are concerned) are 13 lbs so I guess that is what they had stock.
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By PF Arcand - 16 Years Ago
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Richard: Best put an overflow container on the T. Bird. Anti Freeze/coolant is a poisonous environmental substance & shouldn't be left to run on the ground. As pointed out & given the tendency for Birds to run hot, a 13 LB cap is probably best, unless the cooling systems sealing is really suspect..
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By lovefordgalaxie - 16 Years Ago
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I had the same problem. If you don't have a 13 lbs rad cap, when pressure starts to grow, the water will overflow trough the rad cap, in a lower temperature it woud do with a 13 lbs cap. This can explain the relatively cold water driping.
With a 7 lbs cap (my radiator had a leack) the refrigerant solution would not only drep, but almost flow from the radiator overflow tube.
The water was not cold, but not super hot, it was kind of only warm.
After I had the radiator repaired, with a new core, the 13 lbs cap came back, and the driping was reduced to the normal few drops after hard driving.
I use 50% water, and 50% Peack rad aditive (here in Brasil we don't really need anty-freeze, but the aditive is essential to keep the wather clean, and without any rust).
My 2 cents anyway.
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By DANIEL TINDER - 16 Years Ago
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'GB'ird (12/14/2009)
Just had a weird experience. I replaced the 13psi cap with a 7psi on my '55 292 Bird. After a good drive (up torunning temp) I came home and found a steady drip of coolant from the overflow pipe. Nothing unusual there maybe-except it wasn't hot. The rad and all hoses were but the expanding coolant wasn't. How the heck can this be?
Richard
Maybe because after shut-down, the coolant in the block cooks & expands, thus forcing the freshly cooled radiator water out the cap, which loses a lot more of it's heat as it drips down the overflow pipe (?).
Eventually the coolant level will fall to a point where the dripping will stop. Better to add a bit now & then, rather than blow an old solder joint. Unless you have other problems, 7# is usually enough in a 55.
FYI: Propylene antifreeze (though more expensive) is essentially non-toxic.
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By 'GB'ird - 16 Years Ago
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Thanks guys that makes sense. I went for the 7lb cap as I'd read on earlier posts that 13lb could cause joint failures but that may have related to different cars. Cheers Richard
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