Tom M'Guinn

Anybody know if this Napa pressure tester works on our cars:

http://www.napaonline.com/cgi-bin/nc...&usrcommgrpid=

If not, how about this one from Napa:

http://www.napaonline.com/cgi-bin/nc...&usrcommgrpid=

theedge

Another option is what I did. Take a junked cap and glue a shreader valve into it, then use a pump. It can take some messing around to get it to seal decently, but if all you want to do is get some pressure in there then look for leaks visually, it worked pretty well.

z3bra

I have one I picked up at the local NAPA store that's made by stant and looks a bit different but it works fine. Our radiator caps are just the normal style like most old cars use. No adapter is needed. (Potentially a good thing if by some chance you lose your radiator cap in BFE and want to at least put something on there to get you home.) If it has the "gender changer" with it, that's handy just for testing caps by themselves. Mine was definitely shot when I got the tester and for the 10 bucks to replace it with a real BEHR one it's probably worth checking.

It definitely helps for finding problems with the cooling system when it's not warmed up so you can do something about the section that's leaking without burning yourself repeatedly in the process.

Save yourself about $110 bucks and get this one instead at Sears.

Craftsman Cooling System Pressure Tester
Sears item #00946342000 Mfr. model #70888

It's $79.99 for the kit and as far as I can tell it's the exact same thing as the more expensive alternative you linked to at NAPA.

I bet if you look it up at Stant they'll both have the 70888 model number for the set. NAPA tends to bend you over when it comes to tool prices. If I'd have known at the time sears kept them in stock I'd have never bought mine at NAPA and I got a good deal since the guy was nice and gave me the AAA discount even though I wasn't a AAA member.

This is the one I have: http://www.mile-x.com/Misc.%20Tools/12270.htm

bearone

both should work.

early systems won't hold 13 psi which is the standard cap from napa. there are 2 caps.

Tom M'Guinn

That's amazing. They look to be the same kit, and Napa wants more than twice as much! Thanks man, I owe you!

z3bra

No problem, sometimes it still hurts to sit down after what I paid for mine at NAPA, (I practically beg my friends to borrow it to help justify what I paid for it at ~$125 or so) No point flushing $110.00 down the toilet in NAPA's direction if you don't have to and I guess if I can prevent others from doing it it somehow makes up for me getting shafted on the whole deal.

Epic2112

Or better yet, wait for the stant one to pop up on ebay, I bought mine used for ~$30.

Epic2112

here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

etc etc.

z3bra

Yeah that definitely is an option too, I just didn't want to wait a week to find a problem that was keeping me off the road. Probably part of my motivation to pay too much come to think of it. NAPA had it in stock, nobody else I called did. If you're not in a hurry that's definitely the best way to go.

Tom M'Guinn

Well, my local Sears had one on the shelf for $79 -- worked great. I put 10psi in the coolant system and the radiator temp sensor started leaking. From the look of it, I assume it has been leaking at least for a little while, since it is green and corroded around the base.

Cyrus951

Little late but you can rent that piece from Autozone for free.

z3bra

That can be situational Cyrus, the ones by me don't have them on their tool rental program for some strange reason. Not a case of someone not bringing it back, they flat out didn't even know what one was.

Cooling system tools, Phoenix? Pffft who needs em. I was pretty surprised they didn't rent them though.

z3bra

And that green also means someone used tapwater. For shame!

Tom M'Guinn

No way...I put that radiator in a year or two and used nothing but distilled water ever since. Honest! Does the green corrossion only happen with tap water? If so, Albertson's and Publix ripped me off!

z3bra

It's just a copper salt forming so something is reacting with the copper in the brass. With tapwater it's usually the abundance of calcium ions present that does it. The higher temperatures in a cooling system accellerate the process. Brass faucets for example do the same thing. And that's why hot water heaters fill up with calcium carbonate eventually if you have hard water. What coolant are you using with the water if any? Some of the stuff in them for corrosion protection on iron might be reacting with the copper in the brass for instance. (long shot there admittedly)

Also keep in mind that distilled water still isn't exactly pure. It can still have ions present in it and usually does. That's why chemistry labs use deionized water instead of distilled. There is a difference. (Which reminds me, I should fill up a few gallons at my school's lab for the radiator.) Distilled is a good start but it's not perfect. Unfortunately most people don't have acess to deionized water so distilled has to do the trick. Just make sure you didn't accidentally get drinking water instead of distilled as they like to put the wrong stuff on the shelf sometimes I've noticed. Really I wouldn't worry about it , there's going to be a certain amount of corrosion no matter what you do. It could even be that the water was acidic enough for whatever reason that the seepage contained a bunch of copper ions that reacted with the air after leaking to form the copper salt you're seeing.

Now that I think about it though, aren't our radiators aluminum anyway? Is your replacement radiator brass maybe? Other than a small percentage of copper that might be part of the casting alloy for the block and head, there really shouldn't be much copper in the cooling system or even the whole engine. Please tell me you have a brass replacement radiator or some other source of copper or brass in your coolant system because now I'm really at a loss as to where it would come from. Is that piece in your pic with the buildup on it brass as it appears? maybe it's just localized to that and if thats the case I'm sorry for getting you all worked up over nothing.