Foam in radiator??

[RUQWKNF27]

what causes this? I changed out the radiator today with f-body came back took cap off to look @ fluid and the top was full of white foam!! Is this unusual?

 

[VadersV6]

Thats very bad news if its a light brownish color and oily when you rub it between your fingers. It means a blown head gasket or a crack somewhere between a coolant jacket and an oil bearing part of the block. If its pure white, you could be getting too much air in the system which is whipping it up, but honestly, Ive never seen that before.
Did you purge the system before putting the cap on? You need to keep the cap off and let it idle for at least 10 minutes after it completely warms up and the thermostat opens, while paying close attention to the coolant temperature. If it warms up at a normal rate, reaches the temp where the thermostat is rated, then drops and becomes colder than the thermostat is rated at, after the thermostat should have opened, then the sensor could be reading an air pocket and you could torch the motor, because the engine is actually red hot but the sensor is reading an air bubble. Too hot, and you know the coolant isnt circulating because theres a water bubble in the water pump. With the cap off after first firing it back up, watch the temp gauge and see that its sweeping up in temperature at a normal rate. The coolant shouldnt be moving as you're looking in the fill hole. Oncew the thermostat opens, you should see the coolant start moving. You'll start seeing bubbles pop through. Start giving it light revs to try and blow the bubbles through. Keep an eye on the temp gauge the whole time. I like to turn the heater on as well.
It sounds to me like you didnt purge the coolant system and you torched the motor. Sorry to bear bad news, but you always need to watch the coolant temps with major paranoia after any coolant draining procedure and shut down the moment something doesnt look right.

 

[RUQWKNF27]

Nah it's just white it was light brown beforre but I htink thats cause the radiator was dirty inside kinda rusty looking.I just went out and checked and its gone but I guess it would be by now anyways. I don't rememberthis car runnignhott like this last summer so it may just bethat i'm gettting old. it runs like 175-180 now with 82* out.

Whats the best way to get air out system if there is any?

 

[VadersV6]

I updated my post with that info. Those temps are too high for having an F-Body radiator. Hopefully you arent reading an air pocket. Keep the cap off and let it run for awhile and keep giving it light revs, looking for bubbles and keep watching the temps.

 

[VadersV6]

Dude I just read your other post where you raced that guy and had a bunch of knock. I'd bet anything you blew a headgasket. All the symptoms are there. You keep driving it and you'll have a mess on your hands.

 

[RUQWKNF27]

Did you read this: I had the local mechanic do a combustion test with in the air pocket in th eradiator and the fluid came back blue everytime/ he said if it sniffed combusiton it would turn yellow. He did it over and over and alway scame back blue. So unless I got a popped gasket in some weird way this test is not picking it up.

Only symtom I have is running warmer then usual from what I remember!
I have no white smoke anywhere: tailpipe,breathers. My oil is clean.
Car runs fine does not skip or nothing. I am gonna fix this other fan's relay and see how it does. If it comes down to it I will just pull the heads I just want to make sure I have done everything before I do it. I am gonna also pull the plugs and see if they all look the same and no white resedue.

Even if I blew the gasket on the intake and the test didn't get it I think I should get smoke out the breathers possibly. If it is a HG it must be minute. Yet I do want to becareful and not wipe out the bearings.

 

[VadersV6]

You can easily pass that test and still have a blown HG, plus it could be the intake like you said. You can have no steam coming out of the tailpipes as well. If a coolant passage has opened up to the combustion chamber through a blown HG, or the coolant passage on the intake has found its way to an intake port through a blown intake gasket, then you would have steam. That would also be the case if a coolant passage on the intake found its way to an EGR pocket on the heads, through a blown intake gasket...common one with those crap stamped steel shim stock intake gaskets where every angle and tolerance has to be perfect for it to seal, and RTV in contact with oil or coolant isnt going to make up for non compressed areas and hold up to boost. Running hotter than normal is a sign of the coolant having an extra source of heat to contend with, and the fact it all started after a race where you had all this knock, really points to this. The oil could look fine, but foaming coolant is a sign of oil getting in the coolant system. Coolant doesnt tend to foam on its own. It doesnt have the surface tension that oil does. It looks like you have a case where in the area where you've lost sealing, is where the oil pressure is higher than the coolant pressure and is finding its way to the coolant system. Gotta think about where on the engine this could happen, and not be absorbing combustion gases. There is no 1 telltale sign of a blown HG. There are many different ways and many different symptoms.

 

[VadersV6]

I also read that you have head studs. If you buy some thin "jam" nuts from mcmaster, you can double or even triple nut the studs and they should unscrew easily.

 

[QUIP'6']

what causes this? I changed out the radiator today with f-body came back took cap off to look @ fluid and the top was full of white foam!! Is this unusual?

mine did the same thing when i put new radiator in. it was i white foam like an orange julius drink if you are familiar with those. i had to keep skimming the top with shop vac untill clear. i think it was residue in radiator eventually it cleared up

 

[RUQWKNF27]

well that makes me feel better.. now if it would just run cooler like it suppost too..

 

[johnplogii]

Is it building up pressure & going into the overflow at all after a hard run?

 

[RUQWKNF27]

Haven't really pushed the car @ WOT to see. But have put tape onthe resorvoir to monuitor the fluid level and its always the same.

 

[johnplogii]

Mine did the same thing last year-white foam. After a 1/8 mile pass I would have a little coolant in the overflow. It was a seeping head gasket. It blew just a little out of round on #2 at the front & was pressurizing the coolant. I did the coolant system test for co2 twice & it passed both times.

 

[FlaBoy]

I can;t say whether or not its a head gasket issue, but I can tell you this. I had the exact same experience when I swapped to teh f-body radiator. I kept seeing bubbles/foam in the rad, and then after a few days, that disappaeared. I also noticed I kept having to put water in it every few days to top it off,though there was no outward sign of a leak. Of course I thought I'd somehow blown a HG. But after doing all the test I could, nothing indicated a HG, and after a few weeks, it all settled down. My car had been sitting with the rad/hoses removed for a week or so, and I think I had just drained/evaporated every last little drop of water out of that block, so it took a while for all the little pockets of air to work themselves out.

So while I can't say for certain thats whats happening to you, and I would DEFINITELY recommend you do whatever you can to rule out a HG issue, I also think that if your HG checks out okay, it could very likely be the same thing I experienced.

-C

 

[RUQWKNF27]

Well today I replaced the hi-speed fan relay and added a lil more water to the radiator and drove the car for about a hour and the temp the whole time was 173-175. Even got on it a couple of times and temp would got to 178 then come back down to 175. First time I got on it I saw a lil white smoke but that might have been blow by since I got on it 3 more times pretty hard 19-20 lbs and it was fine.

 

[FlaBoy]

that temp does seem kinda high though... I have a HOT-air, and after the f-body swap, my temps went from 210-220 on a cold-ish day, to NEVER getting above 165-170. don;t know what that means in regards to your problem, but unless you have a faulty temp sensor, it might be something you wanna check out.

 

[RUQWKNF27]

I have a tranny cooler on front of the radiator a condensor in front of that and a front mount in front of that! does it still seem high??

 

[Royal-T-Ltd]

I have a tranny cooler on front of the radiator a condensor in front of that and a front mount in front of that! does it still seem high??

No 170-180 doesnt seem high at all since you have the BIG Front mount on there. Depending on the ambient temps mine will range from 160ish to 175ish +/-. But as soon as it gets to 170-175 and the fans kick on you should see the temp start to go down pretty quick, then it starts the cycle again. HTH. Just keep an eye on everything. you "should" be fine. And cross your fingers and your toes..LOL

 

[SouthernCal GN]

I have a tranny cooler on front of the radiator a condensor in front of that and a front mount in front of that! does it still seem high??

If you have a 160 deg t-stat- yes, that temp, too high. I have a FM, trans cooler, and the f-body, and the temp is stable at about 164 deg. FWIW, I run straight water and water wetter.

 

[RUQWKNF27]

If you have a 160 deg t-stat- yes, that temp, too high. I have a FM, trans cooler, and the f-body, and the temp is stable at about 164 deg. FWIW, I run straight water and water wetter.

At what temperature outside do you run 164 deg. ?