VX SS - Dumped coolant - is this a head gasket gone?

[stovepipe]

Red coolant ey? What's the difference? It was constantly leaking so I just went with the cheap option....

TBH I don't know the level when it was cold, as I said the service guys would have filled it only a week or so earlier so I hadnt check yet. You can see in the video it's pretty full hot and it had already spilled everything in the photo. Continued to drain until very low. I'm not sure how much it "swells" when hot.

Even if the cap is stuffed, why would it erupt like that just as I stopped?

 

[tml678]

Even if the cap is stuffed, why would it erupt like that just as I stopped?

It's probably old and getting brittle and just decided to give up the ghost?

You can see in the video that the coolant is bubbling out from under the overflow tank cap. I would start by replacing the cap (and thoroughly checking for any cracks deterioration in the tank itself..maybe even get a new one to be sure). As someone else said, this cap is effectively the radiator cap in an LS1. It needs to seal like a conventional radiator cap.

The coolant is still nice and green which to me, suggests that it's unlikely a head gasket issue.

Edit - yes, as others said - get red coolant. It's designed for the alloy LS1.

 

[BlackVXGTS]

Almost certainly a faulty cap.

My understanding is that when you stop the engine, the temperature of the coolant tends to increase because it's no longer being cooled by fans/wind flow. The pressure within the closed cooling system limits this temperature increase, and prevents the coolant from boiling and expanding. The overflow tank cap should hold in this pressure until the temperature of the coolant has decreased. What you are seeing is the coolant leaking from the faulty cap, which lowers the pressure within the cooling system, allowing the coolant to get hotter, expand more, and leak more out of the cap. That's why you never remove the radiator cap on a hot engine.

 

[stovepipe]

Yep thanks for everyones input. Looks like it was a faulty cap indeed. The inside of it was cracked and broken out as you can see below. $8 for a new one!
The other $10k worth of engine leaks and issues however.....

 

[accentstencil]

Nice easy cheap fix.