I just got my car friday, i'm flushing the coolant today. I'm having problems taking the radiator cap off. I twisted it 45 degrees but can't seem to get it to come off. ALso, the coolant in the resevior will not drain. (I opened the cap of the resevior and drained the coolant from the bottom of the radiator. How do i get this water to come out? Thanks for the help! Oh, btw- it's a 1980 vette.

 

There are tabs on the radiator cap and the opening on the raeiator. You have to twist the cap and push down on the cap at the same time to go pass the tabs. Thesetabs are safety devices to prevent the cap from comming off accidently. The coolant tank, i am not sure aboout, siphon the coolant out or remove the tank. Roger

 

The cap is spring loaded. Push down on it as you twist.

 

Did you push the cap down while turning to overcome the spring pressure?

 

The radiator cap on my 81 was a pain to get off the first couple off times. Keep playing with it it will come off. Consider cleaning real well before putting it back on or replace. On my 81 the reservoir fliud has to be drained by removing the connection hose. Make sure to flush the entire system real well before refilling. On mine I ran radiator flush through it but still had to bring it to the radiator shop to have it cleaned. The radiator flush did do real well considering how bad my radiator was. Good Luck

 

I was able to twist the cap. It is loose- meaning there's some play left to right, like i said about 45 degrees.. I just can't pry it off the radiator. :confused:

 

It will turn a little bit at first, then you have to push down as you turn as stated by everyone above. Picture it being an old child proof lid on a pill bottle.

John

 

Yep...you are hitting the tangs on the radiator fitting....push down and turn to get past those. Where are the pics of the new baby? :confused:

AC

 

you can drain it by pulling off the lower radiator hose.

 

i'm having uploading problems i took the pics, just unable to upload. So i should twist more than 45 degrees? I took all the air dam stuff off so i have a cleaner working area. Let me try that and see how it goes

 

Well, I am thinking from a guy's perspective, but you have to push pretty hard on it to clear the tangs. I do think it's good you want to flush it after just buying it. What other things are you checking out?

AC

 

Jenny, lean your head down near the cap and look underneath it. You should be able to see the tabs that eveyone is talking about. It is a pain to remove the cap as there isn't much room to work with. Absolutely do not try to pry it off as you could do more damage than good.

Once you can see the tabs you have to get past, you know about how hard you have to push down. The best advice I can give you is to not try and grab it like a jar lid. Just press down as hard as you can with the heel of your hand and keep trying to turn counter-clockwise. It might help to have a friend look to see if you are clearing the tabs while you try to turn it. Good luck and don't give up.

 

Jenny
You might have rotated the cap to far, after the initial push and rotation of the cap, look very closely where the the radiator cap interfaces with the radiator and you will see to small slots on the radiator neck, and the cap has two tabs, you have to make sure they are both in line to be able to remove the cap.
I do not like using the radiator drainage valve, its hard to open and while you are in the process of opening it you might damage the valve and will have a radiator leak in your hands to fix.
I would recomend the radiator drainage kit that you can buy in any car store like autozone, you connect a fitting in line on the heater hose and the second fitting that connects where the radiator cap is, then you connect your water hose to the fitting on the heater hose and when you are all conected turn on the water and you will see the radiator fluid exiting from the radiator cap fitting after you see clear water you might want to run the engine 9if you feel comfortable doing this)for a little bit so you can flush the water in the engine until you see clear water, it might have to get to your thermostat temperature level before you see any sign of radiator fluid exiting.
I also put a piece of hose that fits on the radiator cap fitting so the fluid would not run into the engine compartment or body paintwhen flushing.
it works pretty well and it will easier for future radiator fluid flushings
Hope this helps
Ray

 

Thanks ray, that's definitely something worth thinking about. I wasn't aware of this kit. The cap came off well after i realized how it worked. I managed to take off my resevoir, and clean it. I hooked it all up, the whole system is dry now. I added the flushing liquid and filled the radiator back up w/ water. The resevior is not feeding more h20 to the radiator. In my civic i used the resevior to fill aswell. I ran the engine for 20 seconds or so, and the water level in the resevior did not drop at all. Do i need to run it for a longer period? I highly doubt the system is at full capacity. Thanks. :smash: hehehe :cuss

 

The oil has been changed 1K miles ago. I think the carb needs a little work to it, it's running lean at idle. If you put a rag over the openings, the engine behaves much stronger, so i think it's just getting too much air. I will check the tranny fluid and make sure it's clean. I am also cleaning inside and out. My driver's side light has issues when it gets cold. It stays up overnight, but in the morning it comes back down again . I need to check the rear diff. aswell.

 

Does it have the original Rochester carb? If so, it may need a rebuild (after all, it IS 21 years old :lol: ). Sounds like you are a car gal. You are my kind of chick! :cheers:

AC

 

Jenny you are in the right track... I would run it longer, normally I normally run the engine until the engine temperature reachest thermostats level to make sure that it has opened and it has circulated through the whole system, then checked the radiator level after it has cooled down, and fill if necessary.
As for the oil, I would change the oil even if i know that the previous owner had change not long ago, just for my own peace of mind.
I would also change all the fluids.
For the lean issue, it does sound like an air leak, first I would use a carb cleaner spray and sprayed it in the front throat of the carb, if the rpms drops down then you dont have a airleak around the carb/manifold interface but if it does run up then you do have a airleak around the carb / manifold interface, if you do think you have a leak i would first change the carb/manifold gasket.

 

Jenny I dont know if i would you use the words that AC used, but I would say I am very impressed with you and about what you are doing to your new vette. There is many guys that would rather take it to a jiffy lube instead of doing it themselves.We need more women like you and I believe this world would be a better place
As for the light problem you might have a vacuum problem somewhere or one of the vacuum actuators.

 

Hehe thanks! I'm gonna stop by the auto store and get some carb spray. Hopefully by then the water will have circulated throughout the machine.

 

Just keep an eye on your water temp gauge