Driving Without Coolant Reservoir Cap

[garystaven88]

Question before I make contact with a local Hyundai dealership and give the service manager an earful…

My wife brought her 2024 Tucson Hybrid in for scheduled maintenance today. They said the coolant reservoir cap was missing and they have one on order. They told her the car is still safe to operate and sent her on her way.

Now, I never touch anything under the hood of this car. It goes to the dealer religiously for its scheduled services. 100% one of their techs lost that cap. Mistakes happen, I get it.

What I don’t like is they let her leave the shop without a cap… knowing it was missing. I popped the hood and noticed no obvious signs of coolant stains anywhere. The level is a tad low.

I believe they should have snagged one off a donor vehicle if available OR had her leave the car there and give her a loaner car in the meantime.

If I were a service manager at a dealership I would never let a customer drive off with a missing piece of a critical system such as a coolant system.

Thoughts?

 

[BrendanC]

absolutely not an option. i wouldn’t drive the car again until you can get a cap.

 

[k1xv]

Its the coolant cap that maintains pressure in the system, so that all areas that need cooling have solid liquid coolant, and not steam pockets. Don't drive until you get one. Do they sell things like coolant caps at auto parts stores these days? I know Rock Auto sells them, and they are not expensive.

 

[garystaven88]

I think what they also need to do is tow this car back to the dealership to put that cap on once they get it. I should not have to drive it back there with no cap!

Idiots!!!

 

[TomYoung]

Tell service manager to take a cap from the same model in inventory, or contact Hyundai regional service advisor to start your complaint expressing concern on damages…. Leaving a coolant cap off is not acceptable and I would also question the need for removing the cap at all on such a new vehicle…ie why was the level low?

 

[4WD]

Tell service manager to take a cap from the same model in inventory, or contact Hyundai regional service advisor to start your complaint expressing concern on damages…. Leaving a coolant cap off is not acceptable and I would also question the need for removing the cap at all on such a new vehicle…ie why was the level low?

If a second vehicle is handy - I’d make that request in person - take cap home and put it on the tank …

 

[factorytuned2012]

have the dealer pull a cap from a vehicle in their inventory totally unacceptable

 

[SC Maintenance]

Wow.

They lost the cap. They don't stock a cap - I mean I have new caps for every vehicle I own here. They sent you without the cap.

Truly morons. This should make the top of the dealer hall of shame.

 

[TheOilWizard]

Question before I make contact with a local Hyundai dealership and give the service manager an earful…

My wife brought her 2024 Tucson Hybrid in for scheduled maintenance today. They said the coolant reservoir cap was missing and they have one on order. They told her the car is still safe to operate and sent her on her way.

Now, I never touch anything under the hood of this car. It goes to the dealer religiously for its scheduled services. 100% one of their techs lost that cap. Mistakes happen, I get it.

What I don’t like is they let her leave the shop without a cap… knowing it was missing. I popped the hood and noticed no obvious signs of coolant stains anywhere. The level is a tad low.

I believe they should have snagged one off a donor vehicle if available OR had her leave the car there and give her a loaner car in the meantime.

If I were a service manager at a dealership I would never let a customer drive off with a missing piece of a critical system such as a coolant system.

Thoughts?

This is why many here, I suspect, started doing their own maintenance. Nobody cares about your vehicle like you do.

 

[Nukeman7]

Its the coolant cap that maintains pressure in the system, so that all areas that need cooling have solid liquid coolant, and not steam pockets. Don't drive until you get one. Do they sell things like coolant caps at auto parts stores these days? I know Rock Auto sells them, and they are not expensive.

I would not be happy with driving a car for a few days without a coolant reservoir cap, but it is not the same as not having a radiator cap. While some European vehicles have sealed and pressurized overflow reservoir tanks, I've never seen one on a Hyundai. All of the Asian vehicles that I have worked on have the reservoir open to atmosphere with an overflow path that is not sealed. It acts as a surge tank when the radiator cap relief valve lifts due to excessive pressure. Assuming the Hybrid Tucson is of this design, I would be mostly concerned with debris getting into the reservoir tank with the cap missing. If so, I'd probably cover 95% of the opening temporarily with blue masking tape until the cap arrived.

Again, I am not excusing the shoddy workmanship and lack of attention to detail by the dealership mechanic.

 

[garystaven88]

I would not be happy with driving a car for a few days without a coolant reservoir cap, but it is not the same as not having a radiator cap. While some European vehicles have sealed and pressurized overflow reservoir tanks, I've never seen one on a Hyundai. All of the Asian vehicles that I have worked on have the reservoir open to atmosphere with an overflow path that is not sealed. It acts as a surge tank when the radiator cap relief valve lifts due to excessive pressure. Assuming the Hybrid Tucson is of this design, I would be mostly concerned with debris getting into the reservoir tank with the cap missing. If so, I'd probably cover 95% of the opening temporarily with blue masking tape until the cap arrived.

Again, I am not excusing the shoddy workmanship and lack of attention to detail by the dealership mechanic.

Cool to see a different perspective on this. Regardless, they will still be hearing from me. They could have at THE very least put some tape on the opening like you stated. Lazy incompetent FOOLS

 

[Snagglefoot]

I would not be happy with driving a car for a few days without a coolant reservoir cap, but it is not the same as not having a radiator cap. While some European vehicles have sealed and pressurized overflow reservoir tanks, I've never seen one on a Hyundai. All of the Asian vehicles that I have worked on have the reservoir open to atmosphere with an overflow path that is not sealed. It acts as a surge tank when the radiator cap relief valve lifts due to excessive pressure. Assuming the Hybrid Tucson is of this design, I would be mostly concerned with debris getting into the reservoir tank with the cap missing. If so, I'd probably cover 95% of the opening temporarily with blue masking tape until the cap arrived.

Again, I am not excusing the shoddy workmanship and lack of attention to detail by the dealership mechanic.

Sounds like this is the most logical answer. Everyone else seems to believe the tank is pressurized.

 

[Nukeman7]

Cool to see a different perspective on this. Regardless, they will still be hearing from me. They could have at THE very least put some tape on the opening like you stated. Lazy incompetent FOOLS

To verify my assumptions are correct before driving the Tucson again, you can lift the hood and visually confirm there is a separate, intact cap on top of the radiator itself.

 

[ctechbob]

I would not be happy with driving a car for a few days without a coolant reservoir cap, but it is not the same as not having a radiator cap. While some European vehicles have sealed and pressurized overflow reservoir tanks, I've never seen one on a Hyundai. All of the Asian vehicles that I have worked on have the reservoir open to atmosphere with an overflow path that is not sealed. It acts as a surge tank when the radiator cap relief valve lifts due to excessive pressure. Assuming the Hybrid Tucson is of this design, I would be mostly concerned with debris getting into the reservoir tank with the cap missing. If so, I'd probably cover 95% of the opening temporarily with blue masking tape until the cap arrived.

Again, I am not excusing the shoddy workmanship and lack of attention to detail by the dealership mechanic.

Pretty much exactly this. Ford uses a pressurized tank, but I've driven around for weeks in my TL with a broken cap on the overflow. Certainly not the end of the world. Not great, but not terrible either.

 

[ctechbob]

You know what @Nukeman7 . I think we're both eating our words

That's a pressurized bottle from the looks of it. If that picture is correct.

So, strike everything we said. Don't drive the car.

Sorry, this is the hybrid:

 

[garystaven88]

I will look tomorrow to confirm

 

[Nukeman7]

You know what @Nukeman7 . I think we're both eating our words

View attachment 257436

That's a pressurized bottle from the looks of it. If that picture is correct.

So, strike everything we said. Don't drive the car.

WOW!!!

If that is what it looks like, the reservoir tank IS pressurized. Don't drive it anymore and elevate the complaint to the Hyundai Regional Manager.

 

[SC Maintenance]

All of the Asian vehicles that I have worked on have the reservoir open to atmosphere with an overflow path that is not sealed.

My 08 and 11 Nissan have pressurized tank - in fact the pressure relief cap with the spring is on the tank, not the rad. I believe Nissan calls it a degas bottle? All the Nissan's I have seen are this way.

My 2019 Toyota is just a plastic cap for an overflow tank - no pressure.

Even if it was simply an overflow tank, the proper thing to do would have been to seal it with some silicon stretch tape until a proper cap could be secured, not just leave it open.

 

[jtay2024]

I don't think there are many cars out there that don't have pressurized expansion tanks these days. Every car I've owned (produced between 1999 and 2018 have all had pressurized tanks. (Jaguar, Ford, Vauxhall, VW, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo).

 

[garystaven88]

Here is the coolant bottle with the missing cap. You can see the level is also slightly low.