Will a bad radiator cap make your car over heat, how do I know if I need to change my radiator cap?If My Radiator Cap Is Bad, What Are The Syptoms?Yes it will by letting coolant overflow at too low of a pressure. This can also happen if you have the wrong radiator cap for your engine. The wrong pressure rating.If My Radiator Cap Is Bad, What Are The Syptoms?The only way to tell that your cap is bad is to have it pressure tested. I don't know who would do it for free. A radiator cap builds pressure in your cooling system, raising the boiling point of the coolant. Hopefully thats your problem, but I'm skeptical.If My Radiator Cap Is Bad, What Are The Syptoms?A bad cap will cause over heating . Sometimes , it is not easy to tell when one is bad with out a tester . Usually an excessive amount of over flow in the bottle will tell . If you are suspicious of yours , change it . They are not expensive .If My Radiator Cap Is Bad, What Are The Syptoms?Yes a bad radiator cap can make your car overheat. It can also spill coolant on the ground. Whenever you see a puddle of coolant on the ground, especially if the car is warm or running, the radiator cap is the first thing you suspect.
The way a radiator works, it's full of coolant. As the engine gets hot, the coolant expands. It's supposed to be under pressure, because pressurized coolant can get hotter (like water in a pressure cooker), so it can carry away more heat, so your radiator works better. But it can only be under so much pressure before things begin to burst. So the radiator cap has a spring in it. When the pressure gets above a certain threshold, the cap backs off and allows some coolant to flow to the overflow reservoir. When the engine cools off, it sucks the coolant back from the reservoir.
The cap has a number on it, either pounds or 'bar' (atmospheric pressure), and that's the amount of pressure it holds. If the spring gets weak, or the gasket wears out, it won't hold that pressure and you'll either not have as much cooling capacity or else it will spill coolant on the ground as it expands, instead of it going to the reservoir. There used to be machines at gas stations and auto parts stores that could measure the strength of the spring in radiator caps, but I don't know these days. You can buy another one cheap enough. It should have the same number on it for the same pressure.If My Radiator Cap Is Bad, What Are The Syptoms?Put a new one on. If the problem stops, that fixed it. That's probably $10 or less. There are other places cooling systems can leak, so be ready to pay for professional help.If My Radiator Cap Is Bad, What Are The Syptoms?YES IF YOUR CAP IS BAD. YOUR COOLANT SYSTEM WORKS OF OF PRESSURE EACH VEHICAL IS DIFFERENT IF MY VEHICLE WAS OVER HEATING I WOULD THINK THE THERMOSTAT. IF YOUR CAP IS BAD COOLANT MIGHT BE LEAKING OUT BUT NOT ALWAYS IT MIGHT LET YOUR COOLANT TRANSFER TO YOUR OVER FLO TANK IF ITS BAD . IF YOU DRIVE YOUR CAR FOR AWHILE THEN YOU SHUT IT OFF AND YOU CAN HEAR A GURGALING SOUND YOUR CAP COULD BE BAD.If My Radiator Cap Is Bad, What Are The Syptoms?sorry babe, if you have a car built within the past 20 yrs, and its not a v8, then you probably now have a bad head gasket/warped heads. the cap could have caused it, but now chances are its bad.also pressure raises the boiling point of the coolant, like freon in an a/c.do not buy the cap with the pressure release lever, dont ask!
