Spent a whole weekend chasing a coolant leak that wasn't there...

Had this old 7.3 Powerstroke come in with the owner saying it was puking coolant after a short drive. Pressure tested it, held fine cold. Ran it up to temp, no leak. Drove it around the block, nothing. Spent hours checking every hose, the water pump, even pulled the thermostat housing. Finally, after two full days of this, I noticed the coolant reservoir cap was from a completely different truck... some off-brand thing with a weaker spring. It would only vent under a specific load going up a hill near his house. The actual 'leak' was just vapor blowing out the overflow tube for a second. Eight hours of work for a $12 cap. Anyone else ever get fooled by a bad cap like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesleyb9215d ago

Man a whole weekend for a cap. That's brutal.

the_christopher15d ago

Seriously though, is a weekend really that big a deal? It's just a hat, not like you're building a car from scratch. People make too much out of small stuff sometimes.

lilykelly2d ago

Exactly, it's not just the time, it's the mental space it takes up. You plan your whole weekend around this one project, and then you're stuck waiting for glue to dry or paint to cure. It stops being fun and starts feeling like a chore you can't escape. That's what makes it brutal, your free time just disappears.