A weak rad cap will also cause the coolant to boil at a lower temperature. It's a very cheap/easy fix, just stop at any Advance Auto on your route Alex, they'll have them for sure.

[quote][/quote]

It could very well be a rad cap. But a few pages back he had a new OEM one.

Day 2.

As I began driving this morning she drove about 95k before I lost coolant and started to overheat. I barely made into small town called Anderson with coolant bobling out of reseviour. At Autozone I desperately picked up their best headgasket stop leak product that uses some nano fibroids. I dumped that stuff in and turn heat on high and waited 15 mins as directed on the bottle. That crap pretty much put my DSM at dead stop. She started to overheat at idle while she was full of coolant. Driving it only made worth, needle was creeping fast to a red line.

3 out 4 shops refused to help me flush the clogged cooling system. Second shop took the car in, 3 mechanics stood in front of my engine bay and 5 mins later they drove her back to parking lot and hang me my key back saying sorry your engine looks modified, we don't want to mess with it.


Shutting engine every 100 meters to cool off I continued looking for a place that finally agreed to help me.





After about 5 hours of none stop flushing heater core, rad, and the engine we finally got all the crap out of there. Headgasket leak tested negative so at that point I decided ...why don't I just replace my "new" radiator cap.



After I left the shop I did 5 hours of night driving without single drop of coolant. Upper rad hose feels solid and very little activity inside my overflow bottle....damn rad cap haha. Tomorrow is another day, we'll see how she will do.

Wow. What a crappy day. Glad you got it sorted! Happy trails!
I've never seen that flushing machine before. Neat!

Glad you got her figured!!
Yeah agreed that pretty cool!

Good job alex. See you should of changed that 2 pages ago when i told you to.

Not the first time a new part failed right from the factory.



A weaker one wouldn't have helped

I'm late to this thread. Sorry to hear you're leaving the area Alex but I'm enjoying following the adventure. Good luck and safe trip!

AWESOME ALEX!!!!

Glad it was simple but sorry to hear about the struggles.

Just out of curiosity, did they test your tstat while flushing?

Try and keep up Jason. A weaker one would help with a blown head gasket. It would help with a overheating due to a bad rad cap

I'm pretty sure I am up to date.

Thats for a bad head gasket yes. He has been overheating for months.

Yep it was fine.


I did trouble free 1000k today




Here is where I am now. Running a little behind



Thanks for your help so far and your comments. Much appreciated

Thanks Jeff

Excellent man. Glad to hear! I had some coolant problems the other day as well. My return turbo coolant line cracked and exploded. Deleted the turbo cooling now seeing as I won't be using it in a couple months anyway

Good stuff Alex! Glad to hear you are back on the road!

Nice pics Alex!!!

Keep 'em coming!

Rad cap should be replaced every few years. I can't even recall how many DSM's I have worked on and while the motor is cool, I pop off the rad cap and point out the cracked seal to the owner. Some people think that as long as coolant isn't leaking out the thermostat housing, it's functioning fine.

Something as simple as this could lead to major engine failure. Glad you got it sorted out Alex. Have a safe trip!

To the rest of you DSM'ers who can't remeber when was the last time you replaced your rad cap, spend $10 and do your car a favour I use the Prestone ones that you can find at Canadian tire. They function just as good as OEM.

Thanks Reza,
Mine got progressively worse as continued taking it on and off. I used some oil to protect seals on my new rad cap.

Another solid 1000k drive today. She does not overheat even when driving through mountains. I should arrive at my destination tomorrow

Getting sunny and dry here. DSM loves it

Be a man. 1800km in a day! lol

Lol no no no DSM needs a sleep

Alex I just read this hole thread.
Nice clean work so far and your car looks great

Good luck in LA sorry to hear your leaving
Glad to hear you sorted the heating problem out.

OH man I'm jealous.

I wonder what drove my ancestors to migrate to Canada rather than a tropical year round climate

BUT, can't complain too much..Do love this country!

Unless you like driving for more than 10 hours a day, I think 1,000 kms/day is a good amount to keep your sanity

You are absolutely right. I was a cheap ass and slept in my car at rest stops in May, so it got a little chilly in the mornings. Was woken up at 6ish by the sun and drove until about 1-2am. Some nice food stops, taking time here and there. It was a mission but I got to Calgary in just under 2 days.

She made it! Some hot weather here for sure. More pics coming soon just those few for now

Hey Alex lets see some pics of the Talon in L.A. maybe near a famous landmark,like the Hollywood sign,Grauman's chinese theatre LOL,for us poor schmucks stuck up here LOL

DSMers
Here is short story and update from my DSM book...

I have completed what I thought was impossible...I relocated my Canadian DSM to southern California and got all paper work needed to pass emissions and complete registration.

Smogged and registered



So I decided to take her some place special....far up into the mountains (6000 feet plus) called Angels Forest Park.
I will let pics do the talking...

She follows me everywhere I go in life...

Beautiful shots Alex!

Who'd a thought you could get some awd donuts going on in Cali!

Looking good buddy. You just need to have some faith in your DSM, it's amazing what she'll do

What kind of Etest do they down there?

Snow? ... in Cali?

Mountains man! There is tonnes of snow in Cali.

Nice pics!

99% Cali vehicle are none AWD....AWD DSM sure makes it special. Smog guy refused to believe mine was AWD....he dropped his belly on the ground with flashlight to verify....haha



They have it all....ocean, white sand, palm trees, snow, and 320 days of sun



I don't even know where to start. Vehicles are build differently for Cali compared to Canada or other 49 states.




Now I know why there are zero GSX's here .... GST's only. According to some sources...all Cali DSMs were GSTs


Thanks

Welcome to the super rare club

Today was a good day! My Talon received treatment that was long overdue. Fresh brakes and synthetic oil.

Finally convinced one family to let me borrow their driveway. Had to answers questions like:
Why local mechanic can't do it, what will neighbors say, what will I do with old oil, what if I spill oil...














She has all she needs for a few month

Its so odd that SO many clean/wild modified cars come from California but the modification and emission rules are so damn tight over there.

It's nice to have a driveway to work on...even if it comes with enough questions that it makes you feel like your being accused of murder lol.

Must feel nice to turn a wrench again eh?

There are ways around it. Once I have my own driveway/garage again I will re-install my 3" exhaust. Just need to keep stock parts handy and absolutely no show off in the city driving.



Defiantly feels nice. I have few more projects coming up that don't require driveway. Cooling fan upgrade and Rockford 4 channel amp under the passenger seat installation. Should be able to get done easily somewhere on the quite parking lot.