rcdblink716

If you have bubbles in the coolant you have a compression leak into coolant passages. Could be cracked head, cracked block, or bad head gasket.

Yngvar

how do you screw up putting new coolant in I replacet my rad and had no proplems with air or over heating and I'am 18

vtecwho

because i dont think i did screw up. i wanted to exhaust every option before i tore off my heads. if that sounds dumb to you then you have not had "show stopping" complications with your car that have resulted in a very easy and basic fix. basics first, thats what i have learned. since im having a problem and im not a mechanic i wanted to rule out EVERY possible problem so i can work from the outside in. congrats on replacing your radiator by yourself. i have done that twice on my toyota but never ran into a problem like this.

ZachW04Stang

Bubbles in the coolant don't always mean that its a head gasket. When coolant boils (overheats) it turns from a liquid to a gas form. When the coolant starts expanding and pushing out of the system because of excess pressure you will notice the coolant is bubbling.

I don't think you have just and air pocket. If it was just an air pocket your car would hold pressure when pressure tested. This means you more then likely have a leak somewhere in the system. You just did a cam swap so you had the intake manifold, timing cover, and water pump off. All of which have coolant passages going through them. More then likely one of them didn't seal perfect and you have a leak. Actaully when I did my intake manifold my cheap heater core broke and I didn't realize it for a couple days.

rcdblink716

If the car is not overheating(at the time you check it)then yes bubbles in the coolant always mean some kind of combustion leak.

ckyguy68

My coolant used to bubble alot and i would run really hot. I burped it for about 15 minutes and topped off the radiator. Its been running perfect ever since.

vtecwho

its definatly some leak that is getting into my engine. the trick is going to figure out where its coming from.

by the way, i took off my heads to get a valve job, it could be my head gaskets.

92hatchLX

You can barely tell what that is in the picture.

vtecwho

oh, i ment to explain. that is caked on froth from oil and coolant on my oil cap. it looks terrible in real life. it just means that i get to take it apart again. there is water getting in there but i dont know where.

vtecwho

just did a leak down test and the pressure stays very constant. it VERY SLOWLY creeps down. it took about 3 mins of staring at it to notice it moved at all. its not noticable unless your really watch it carefully. still, even at that, it could be the cap on the universal tester from autozone