xb1230
Hobby Mechanic
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2014
- Posts
- 960
- Reaction score
- 226
- Location
- South Shore of Montreal, QC, Canada
- Ram Year
- 2020
- Engine
- 5.7 HEMI
I'm having a problem with my cooling system where the radiator is inflating like a balloon. You read this right, not the hoses, the radiator itself is blowing up out of shape...
I am guessing this is the result of over-pressurized cooling system, due to a faulty head gasket, pushing combustion gasses in the cooling system.
However, I do not have any oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil, or at least no visibly noticeable traces of either, I am not loosing any oil (half a quart per 5000 miles which I consider normal on a 100000 miles engine). I am loosing coolant at this point but it is due to the radiator blowing out of shape and loosing it's sealing integrity.
I will be changing the radiator, but if I don't correct the underlying issue generating this I will be in the same situation very shortly.
All that being said, I will be doing a compression test, a cylinder leak down test, a cooling system pressure test, and possibly a combustion leak detection to assess the situation.
However I would also like to be able to monitor the system's pressure from the driver's seat on an ongoing basis. As my vehicle doesn't have such a device I will have to put one together. I am thinking of using an oil pressure sending unit fitted on the cooling system close to the radiator.
I am hoping someone can confirm if I can use an oil pressure sending unit to read cooling system pressure and attach an electric gauge in the cabin to that sending unit with proper graduation to read the cooling system's pressure with a dedicated gauge.
As anyone else done this before?
I'm guessing folks doing acceleration races would be using such a setup, especially in boosted applications such as Turbos or Superchargers.
I am guessing this is the result of over-pressurized cooling system, due to a faulty head gasket, pushing combustion gasses in the cooling system.
However, I do not have any oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil, or at least no visibly noticeable traces of either, I am not loosing any oil (half a quart per 5000 miles which I consider normal on a 100000 miles engine). I am loosing coolant at this point but it is due to the radiator blowing out of shape and loosing it's sealing integrity.
I will be changing the radiator, but if I don't correct the underlying issue generating this I will be in the same situation very shortly.
All that being said, I will be doing a compression test, a cylinder leak down test, a cooling system pressure test, and possibly a combustion leak detection to assess the situation.
However I would also like to be able to monitor the system's pressure from the driver's seat on an ongoing basis. As my vehicle doesn't have such a device I will have to put one together. I am thinking of using an oil pressure sending unit fitted on the cooling system close to the radiator.
I am hoping someone can confirm if I can use an oil pressure sending unit to read cooling system pressure and attach an electric gauge in the cabin to that sending unit with proper graduation to read the cooling system's pressure with a dedicated gauge.
As anyone else done this before?
I'm guessing folks doing acceleration races would be using such a setup, especially in boosted applications such as Turbos or Superchargers.
