Guest bastaad525 Posted November 30, 2003 Share Posted November 30, 2003 What are the benefits of running an overflow tank? I'm pretty sure my '72 never came with one... I"m running a later ZX radiator now and it has the nipple off of the main filler neck, and have been wondering if it's worth it to install one. I'm reluctant though because I always had problems with the overflow in my n/a ZX... dunno what was wrong with it... the coolant was always evaporating way quick, constantly had to refill it... and a lot of times it'd start steaming and whistling like a teapot... and no it wasn't the car overheating! Finally I just disconnected it and everything was perfectly fine for 3 years after that... but I figure... every car these days has them... they gotta be good for something right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted November 30, 2003 Share Posted November 30, 2003 You have to have one to run at the strip. Spitting coolant out of the radiator is never good, IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 Even when I run the car hard I never have a problem with coolant coming out of the radiator... I assume this would only happen if it were to fail... spring a leak or something, in which case, no overflow tank would save me from that I knew that I needed one at the track... so it's in the plans at some point, but I'm wondering if it is beneficial in some way and needs to be moved up the list of priorities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baddriver Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 The coolant will expand and contract as the temperature changes, so in cars without overflow tanks, the radiator was left a few inches low so that the coolant had room to expand. People didn't seem to like this, though. When someone got their car back from the shop, and looked into the radiator, they would assume that the shop was cutting corners, and fill the radiator up. Then when it expanded, the radiator would loose coolant, and people would think it was leaking. Then they would take it backto the shop, where no one could find the problem. So, the overflow tank was devised. It comes with a line that says full cold and full hot so people would understand that the coolant really does expand. It also effectivly increases the capacity of the cooling system, because the radiator is always full. Not having one will not hurt your car, but as has been mentioned, they are required at the drag strip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Even when I run the car hard I never have a problem with coolant coming out of the radiator... I assume this would only happen if it were to fail... spring a leak or something' date=' in which case, no overflow tank would save me from that I knew that I needed one at the track... so it's in the plans at some point, but I'm wondering if it is beneficial in some way and needs to be moved up the list of priorities.[/quote'] I just put one on my old POS Benz. It cost $3.99 at Pepboys and took all of 10 minutes to install. I use the same thing on my Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Yeah I do run the radiator not 100% full, to compensate for the expansion. And I will put an overflow tank at some point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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