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Bloody radiator cap

Trev1958

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Had an issue with my 2007 VE commodore duel fuel, out of the blue it started to overheat and loose coolant also when it switched to gas it would cut out or start to shudder after reading a lot of posts on here I thought I would look at the basic things first rather than tear the car apart as I have had very little issues with this car.

It started with my car overheating it would loose coolant and shudder when gas came on (factory fitted Duel Fuel), engine warning coming all the time i was worried, what i did was the following, I bought a new radiator cap $25 from local Holden dealer because after a drive the radiator hose was soft i could squeeze it easy as there was no pressure 1st clue. Once i changed it topped up coolant. Still the engine check light came on so I thought I have checked everything fluid levels, spark plugs etc. but it engine warning kept coming on, so i decide I would take the car for a drive anyway to see if the overheating problem had gone away, it ran great no overheating, switched to gas and ran like a treat, so when i got home i though I need to rid of this alarm so I disconnected the earth lead on the battery and left it for 5 min, replaced the lead and alarm gone, took the misses to the shops no issues.

I have had no further issues since, so why would a radiator cap cause so many issues, it effected the gas, overheating, poor running, amazing something so simple can cause so many problems, I have friends who are forklift mechanics and they all said the gas issues are caused through coolant issues either low or lack of pressure and could possibly freeze the gas convertor, so my point check the simple things before you take it to some mechanic or Holden dealer who will charge you a fortune, if your car was ok before and started doing weird **** chances are its something small, not stretched timing chains , not o2 sensors not faulty injectors, the 2nd clue was apart from the overheating the car ran fine on petrol. hope this helps someone.

I'm no mechanic but it just didn't seem to add up the car had always been fine and suddenly developed overheating issues and loosing coolant, then the rest of the problem started all because of a radiator cap which by the way the old one looked fine.
 
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Tatiana

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No one can properly read a wall of text.

Paragraphs are you friend for ease of reading. I have fixed this time.
 

Sean880

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Radiator caps should always be replaced periodically as a normal maintenance item as you should the radiator hoses. You don't wait until you lose coolant and allow your car to overheat because of a bad cap or allow the R/hoses to blow out before you replace them potentially causing expensive engine damage from the overheating in both cases.

1. Change your cap for a quality new one very 5 years whether it is still good or not. It's cheap.

2. Change your radiator hoses every 5 - 6 years. A good time to do them is when you are doing the routine coolant flush which should be done at least every 5 years in any event. Again.... it's inexpensive preventative maintenance. OR you can wait until one blows out (which will again result in the engine overheating) leaving you stranded and you have to get your car towed.
 

Trev1958

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Still having a few issues with over heating, I notice I loose coolant near the overflow bottle, After I changed the radiator cap the car ran fine even when I took it for the test drive, the next day I drove it to work roughly 45 min car fine temp never moved needle stayed at 2nd marker, at 4pm I get into the car and drive home all good until 3/4 the way home I see the temp gauge slowly climb when I stop at lights etc,
so I pull up in the driveway and notice a snail trail of coolant to the front of my car on the overflow tank side, so I leave the car running check for obvious hissing noise or trying to spot a leak but nothing, so next day I ride the motor bike to work as it is no longer raining, when I got home I took the radiator cap of and it needed coolant again and the overflow tank level is at the high level,
So my question is why does it appear the coolant that goes into the overflow tank when it is hot is not being drawn back into the radiator when it is cold, am I missing anything obvious
 

MYVESSV8

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did you bleed the system after you changed hose and topped up, this may be your problem, pretty common,
 

Trev1958

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i would if i knew where the bleed screw is, could someone supply a pic it would be appreciated
 

Shorty33

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I've had my VE for 4.5 years, and have not had coolant issues.
But my VZ - 3.6L Alloytec - had a few problems over the years.
After a bit of down-time beside lonely roads, I kept a spare cap. So, I agree with Sean.

The tricks are that the cooling system is not intended to be user-serviceable. The fact that you can't see coolant when you take the cap off, doesn't mean that it doesn't have enough. Which is why the cap is concealed on the 3.0. If you keep topping it up, of course it's going to overflow.
The problem with the cap was the return function - it didn't work after a while. So, when running hot (overtaking, in the tropics), coolant shifted to the overflow. When driving settled down, that ought to have returned, but it didn't. The next bit of overtaking shifted some more; and so on.
So, on a long trip, the radiator was dangerously low, but the overflow was nearly full.

And, I can't help with the location of the bleed screw - if you try the "search" here, I expect you'll find a clue.
 

EYY

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If it stops running properly on gas, definitely don't just flick it over to petrol and keep driving. That's how people kill engines. Often when the gas system stops working its because the converter freezes due to a lack of coolant.

People just aren't aware.
 

Trev1958

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the problem is gas is leaking into my cooling system via the gas convertor, I have run it on petrol the last couple of weeks and no issues, when I get a chance I will get a bloke I know come and look at my gas system
 
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