88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe coolant system question

[crazycrak]

I was coming home from work which is about 10 miles on 55 mph + roads and the last is stop and go city. Well when I got into town I noticed the car was very warm both coolant fans where on and the gauge was almost pegged to red. Once I started moving it would cool down to the a little bit but not like it usally does.
I park it and let it cool off for a few hours and the upper rad. hose is sucked flat and I had to pull pretty hard to get the rad. cap off which followed by a whoosh, the coolant was low maybe about 3/4 way full in the rad. What could cause this I replaced the hoses thermostat radiator and cap not to long ago.

 

[Jarlaxle]

My Olds Custom Cruiser did the exact same thing...mine had a bad water pump.

 

[ag_ghost]

How long ago did you do the replacements? Maybe there was an air pocket that's now been "burped"? I assume you haven't observed any leaks or evidence of coolant in the oil.

 

[Maritime Storm]

Needs a rad cap for starters(not allow air/coolant back into system) and it was also probably airlocked since you changed the thermostat.

 

[crazycrak]

Its been a few months but I haven't drove any distance since then. It set about 3 months I didn't see any leaks no steam or anything.

 

[crazycrak]

I think it may have been a air pocket I filled the rad. Let it warm till the fan turned on and maybe 30 sec.s later it cooled off and turned off. I guess Ill see going to work.

 

[The_Eric]

I've had one I was working on do that. What had happened was the line between the radiator and overflow tank was plugged.

In properly filled and functioning system, coolant will flow from the rad to the reservoir (via the cap) at operating temp and pressure. Once the system cools, a vacuum is created by the contracting and cooling coolant. It then draws from the reservoir to keep the rad full. In my case, I had flushed the system then refilled the rad and reservoir and test drove it. I got back to the shop and let it cool before rechecking the level. When I cam back to it, the upper hose was sucked flat.

What had happened was the line cap and line in between had frozen due to water from flushing. The rad and reservoir were fine though. I brought it into the shop, let it warm and blew the water/slush out. After that, everything was fine.

So for you, I'd check that your cap works fine and check for restriction in the return line.

 

[mechtech2]

Probably not filled right when you did the work.
There was an air pocket.