Originally Posted By RapidRobert
[quote]Hey We're the best, F the rest!. You know what I'd do now is take out the stat housing/stat/fan belt & fill the housing neck up to the brim with coolant & start it & power brake it & see if you see bubbles or the coolant starts to rise. You only have a brief window of several minutes give or take till heat expands the coolant the same way (wouldn't be bubbles tho) but if it bubbles or rises right off the bat within several minutes then that is a dead giveaway for you know what. Good point missed earlier & that is to put on a non recovery cap then pump it up to 15 then you will have a sealed system that ain't going nowhere unless there is a leak in the rad, in the hoses, in the pump (all external) or internal/inside in the head gasket (BB) or head gasket and or intake gasket (SB) & alot of those recovery systems dont work right in the first place (they dont end up drawing the coolant back to the rad) so pumping up a recovery cap system overnight ends being a valid test by default


Unfortunately, the 4.7 thermostat and housing sits at the bottom where the lower rad hose meets the motor. If I removed it, all coolant would drain out. The non recovery cap comment, I don't understand. Sorry, but this is where the newbiness shows. LOL Wouldn't the pressure tester's cap be considered a non-recovery, since it has no valves? Currently I'm pumping it up to 21 PSI, since that's the max pressure on the cap.


Last edited by Dodgevity; 10/26/15 01:19 PM.

2003 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab SLT
4.7L V8, Automatic (545RFE), RWD
310K mi