Quote:
On the old cars with no overflow tank you need to leave 2 or 3 inches of space at the top of the rad to allow for expansion, if you don't do this the rad will overflow when it is hot.
Yes, That is right however after the initial loss of water it would stop. All else being right the engine wouldn't overheat and boil over. I got my car from a guy that said the cooling system on 51 Packards were not as good as other years. Said he was always putting water in it and that it overheated on very short trips. I found out what was wrong when I saw water pouring out the overflow when the engine was still cold. Seems that they had replaced the radiator cap at some point with the wrong cap. It looked right from the outside and was a 7 pound cap and all but did not seal aginst the seat in the bottom of the filler neck. I put the right cap on it and have hardly had to put a drop of water in it in years.
BTW, He spent lots of money re-coring the radiator, replacing the water pump and thermostat. Good for me bad for him. All it needed was the right cap.
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