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Driving with a broken expansion tank cap

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Driving with a broken expansion tank cap

Postby seamie » Sun Sep 16, 2018 10:25 pm

Evening all,

Just a quick question, can I drive with a faulty expansion tank cap?

I broke it (it split in two when removing and then I busted the spring trying to get it out of the tank) when topping up with water this evening and I need to drive for a bit tomorrow morning before I get a chance to replace it.

TIA
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Re: Driving with a broken expansion tank cap

Postby richgold » Sun Sep 16, 2018 10:46 pm

I wouldnt drive without it, its there for a reason.
You'll lose your coolant while driving and your van will overheat.
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Re: Driving with a broken expansion tank cap

Postby Jim Archer » Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:00 pm

It is there to stop the coolant boiling off when the motor gets heat in it.

If you drive very gently for a short-ish distance it will probably be OK if you keep an eye on the level. Don't quote me on this if you boil it up mind.

The issue is that the motor has hotspots when running that are at much higher temps than the rest - exhaust ports and top of cylinder bore mostly - the pressure in the system does 2 things, it stops localised 'micro' boiling in use (the tiny wee bubbles of gas dramatically cut heat transfer to the coolant), but more importantly stops all your coolant boiling off when you shut off and the pump stops circulating.

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