Scootaloo's Coolant Woes!

Printable View

02-21-2014, 01:33 AM
2010AveoLT

Scootaloo's Coolant Woes!

well, it looks like Scoots is starting to Nickle and Dime me! a couple of days ago, I noticed the coolant bottle was empty after doing a routine inspection under the hood; I thought "no big Deal, i'll just top it up tomorrow at school!" after I filled it what little Dex Cool we had left at our house, I had just pulled in the driveway to check our mail when I noticed the smell. as soon as I parked, I opened the hood and noticed right away that the top of the coolant bottle was WET with the Dex Cool i just put in not an hour and a half ago! after it cooled a little bit, I took the recovery bottle out to make sure it wasn't cracked or anything. (thankfully it wasn't, or else I would be paying about $30, or as I like to call it: "a Tank of Gas" for a new Recovery Bottle!) Yesterday, i borrowed the Cooling system pressure tester (it tests both the Cooling System, and the Pressure cap) that my school's Diesel Shop has, and tested both my cap, and the Cap of my Classmate's '09 Hatch; my Classmate's held the proper 17 PSI that the 09+ Pressure caps are rated for and mine...Didn't. and to our Lovely GM Service Reps; I've already Stopped by Alexander Chevrolet-Buick-GMC, (the Parts Guys there are EXTREMELY Nice and Helpful; and so are the New Car Salespeople, they let me Drool over the Chevy SS they had!) and ordered a new Cap which I will pick up tomorrow!
02-21-2014, 01:08 PM
avguy

Something must have happened to the gasket inside of the cap. Perhaps after you get the new one, you can pull the gasket out from the old one to find out what happened to it. Seems way too soon for this to be happening. Still have the original cap on both the '05 and my daughter's '06. But OTOH, maybe Chevy didn't think it was fair that the first gen owners got stuck with that POS plastic thermostat housing. Something like a bad coolant cap for the second gens would be a good way to even things up :rolleyes:
02-23-2014, 02:34 PM
2010AveoLT

Quote:

Originally Posted by avguy

Something must have happened to the gasket inside of the cap. Perhaps after you get the new one, you can pull the gasket out from the old one to find out what happened to it. Seems way too soon for this to be happening. Still have the original cap on both the '05 and my daughter's '06. But OTOH, maybe Chevy didn't think it was fair that the first gen owners got stuck with that POS plastic thermostat housing. Something like a bad coolant cap for the second gens would be a good way to even things up :rolleyes:

I actually inspected the gasket, and there is a nice groove heat formed into it; but I believe my cap had an Internal Failure, because as soon as I removed the gasket, half of the internal guts flew apart! and I'll Post in the How To Section what's inside the cap.
02-24-2014, 03:00 AM
Thymeclock

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2010AveoLT

I actually inspected the gasket, and there is a nice groove heat formed into it; but I believe my cap had an Internal Failure, because as soon as I removed the gasket, half of the internal guts flew apart! and I'll Post in the How To Section what's inside the cap.

Just out of curiosity, how many miles are on it?
02-24-2014, 04:26 AM
Pickles

as you may know my cap needed replacing as well. the innards were definitely not working right. I got two new ones, one as a spare, and another to replace the bad one. the new ones are a much different design, they are from/made in germany, with only german writing on the package. I guess we can thank opel for that. they work great though, they have one 1/2 tube type thing coming down the middle of the cap, whereas the stock one had two little rubber pieces
02-24-2014, 08:42 PM
2010AveoLT

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thymeclock

Just out of curiosity, how many miles are on it?

about 67K on it.
02-24-2014, 10:07 PM
Pooh Man

IM buying a new one too, I ve always been looking for that slow leak I never find
02-25-2014, 02:12 AM
Thymeclock

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2010AveoLT

about 67K on it.

That probably matters. Parts are now made cheaper and of poorer materials - not meant to be as durable as they once were.

Planned obsolescence + the progressive mentality: Throw it out and buy a new one.

Mine only has about 25K. This probably is a factor in predicting when it will fail.