[Lawman86]

Ok, I’ll get this out of the way first. I’m a medically retired ASE Certified Gas, Diesel, and LP engine mechanic, I have a 2000 3.8 5spd car that when I drive it and pull over the cap is leaking. I bought a new one with the purge lever and it’s leaking too. I haven’t done a pressure test yet since I don’t have one small enough for this little radiator, and I haven’t done a compression test but do have the tools for that. One thing I did notice was the radiator was clogged. So I flushed it, opened vent, filled till all the bubbles quit coming out of vent, and then turned car on, ran it for about 2500 rpm and added a little more coolant. Now I don’t notice it going into the expansion tank when I’m sitting there watching it but I did notice a little bit after I drove it to test, and when I pulled over to pop the hood I saw that the new cap was spewing some under the pop off valve. Now for the head gasket issue I’ll check that later, I do know I’ve checked the oil and there’s zero coolant in it, it’s clean as a whistle, I’m not going to waste anymore coolant if I don’t have to, but what am I missing here fellas. I bought the car off my brother and I’ve had it sitting for a while and recently got it out and noticed this after I’d started working on it. As said yes the header blows hot as hell in the cabin but I know there’s gotta be air somewhere. You know I’ve never cracked open those block ports for the coolant to flush, matter fact I don’t even know where the hell those are. Anyone got a clue where those are? I just wanna make sure something’s not clogged.

 

[Beechkid]

I'm betting the radiator neck is warped!

 

[Lawman86]

I’ve checked, I went around it yesterday and looked real good with a flashlight and took a small straight edge and it was pretty flush. This car hasn’t been running in a few years, it ran it just needed a new clutch and cable, but anyways I flushed the coolant system on it, and today I went and bought a new thermostat for it. Maybe its toast from sitting for so long. Haven’t been able to put it on yet it’s been pissing and pouring all day and 43 degrees

 

[Beechkid]

Remember the neck itself may be straight but the inner lip that the cap attaches to (upper and lower) may be warped

 

[Lawman86]

Yeah I checked those as well. Either way I got tired of fooling with it and sent it to the shop who screwed me royally on the clutch job and said they’d make it right with me. They’re going to test it today for a blown head gasket so we’ll see. Although on most headgaskets I’ve seen blow a cylinder leak down test I’ve been able to do on other vehicles, I couldn’t do on this one cause my adapter wouldn’t fit, and pressure testing gauge was too big on my tool also. It never skewed coolant out like they normally do when you open the cap on startup before it’s warmed up. So hopefully that’s not the case 🙏