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Answers
Quote:
Originally Posted by shertex
Just trying to figure out some things related to expansion tank caps.
1. If the inner seal of the cap is compromised/deteriorated, what is the effect? I'm assuming lower of system pressure and potentially loss of coolant but wanted to confirm.
2. If the cooling system has a recovery tank that is in good working order, will that prevent a bad expansion tank cap from resulting in a loss of coolant?
3. Is there a certain risk in replacing a bad cap on an older cooling system in that the increase of pressure might cause something else to fail?
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Answers:
1. A pressure cap that doesn't seal tightly will prevent the system from pressurizing as much as the cap is supposed to allow. For the most part, the purpose of a pressurized cooling system is to prevent the coolant from boiling at normal operating temperatures, especially at high altitudes. Using antifreeze also increases the boiling point. If the coolant never gets over 100C you could probably operate without significant loss of coolant even with a damaged cap.
2. The recovery tank may prevent loss of coolant depending on how bad the pressure cap is. However, coolant return from the recovery tank is based upon vacuum in the cooling system and a damaged pressure cap may not allow a vacuum to form.
3. There's no way to know whether pressurizing a system that hasn't been pressurized in a long time will cause leaks. Try it and find out.
Jeremy
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