Andy135

I was wondering whether it might suck back, but without Fishy taking a pic of whatever is under the cap we're all just speculating. @Saintly Fish, new pics please!

But the reservoir on his engine is unpressurised, so can only be a catch tank I.e. the flow is only one way (out of the pressure cap valve and into the tank) not two way like in a pressurised expansion tank situation.

#gingeandproud https://i.imgur.com/hnXXXio.gifv

Yes, I'm thinking along the same lines. I have a plan to make up something like a paravane from some sheet stainless I have in the shed - the weight of the stainless being calculated to ensure the camera remains upright.

Fool. Clearly this is a job for parcel tape.

Neat little thing. Just need to work out the best way to rig it now...

Great tip. Will give that a try - thanks.

On the side of caution?

Sorry for giving you a Laugh emoji for that one Ian but.... 🤣🤣🤣😱

That would naturally be the best choice. 👨‍🦰

Why not stick the outlet end of the translucent hose into a water/fizzy pop bottle. It'll either be empty at the end of a run, or full. Either way it avoids man nappies, blue roll or making a mess of your engine room floor.

🤣🤣🤣🖕

That would ruin a pair of underpants too if it happened to me 😱

Is it the lowest point whilst underway though? Might the coolant have trickled astern whilst underway and is now trapped elsewhere? Can't remember the layout of your engine room floor so not sure if this is even a possibility, but it has to have gone somewhere.

Whilst you were dangling from a pier 🤭

That's the way to do it Ian 😳

Might be worth checking in the lowest point of your bilge then for the coolant you put into the catch tank. Or do you have an auto-bilge pump that would have discharged it already?

Because your pressure cap opens to allow air (from your recent system refill) out into the catch tank, which then pushes the fluid you just put in it, out into the bilge. Once the system has been fully bled it will settle down and the fluid level will stabilise, but I don't reckon there's any need to fill the reservoir to max as that will just take up space intended for any overflow coolant that comes past the pressure cap.

If it's for catching fluid, then I'm not sure you should be filling it. If your system is working as it should then it should be empty and no fluid should get into it past the pressure cap. Where does the translucent hose that runs out of your reservoir cap go to? The bilge??

The inner circle is your pressure cap, the square white reservoir is connected to the overflow outlet on your pressure cap. As I said in my previous post it will catch any overflow/excess coolant. If it has min and max markings on it then I guess that reservoir may have been used as a header tank on whichever car it was originally designed for and is being used in a non-pressurised application on your engine.

If there's no pressure cap then it can only be to catch any excess coolant if it overheats or too much was put in. Better to catch it than spew it into the bilge. It's like an oil catch can then, but for coolant.

Yep, that's a good 'un! 👍

It's where you fill the system from. Max line is to show where you should fill to when cold. If you overfill it, then as the coolant gets hot and expands it may crack the tank and leak. Min mark is there to show the minimum serviceable level of coolant. In practice it also shows whether you're losing coolant e.g.if you fill to max and two months later you find it at min you know you're losing fluid. As for where it goes, if it's not lost via a hose leak into the bilge then the next place to look would be the cylinder head gasket. A gasket leak can allow coolant from the water jacket into the combustion chamber where it will get pushed out of your exhaust as steam.

I know, I know, they're mostly full of carpy stuff, but they often have a small sea section to pick up the basics, and I've even found that they do frozen squid and frozen black lug in their bait freezers. That's a win for us landlocked sea anglers who can't always get fresh bait. https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/storelocator