Hi folks--hope someone here can help. I tried a search and came up empty.
A few days ago, I noticed some coolant on the grpund, coming from my 95 f150. I went to squeeze the upper hose to see if it would "spit" from where it was leaking, and found the hose to be hard as a rock (well, not THAT hard). I swapped out the radiator cap, but I still seem to have too much pressure in there. Someone also told me a head gasket could do this, but coolant and oil are clean (I know, fluids don't always seep).
I changed the rear main about 2 weeks ago, and pulled the engine to do all the gaskets (valve cover, oil pan intake/exhaust--NOT water pump or thermostat). Would accidently crossing heater hoses when putting the thing back together do this? Coolant was changed in the fall, along w/ thermostat.
I was also told that air in the system might do this. If so, how would I "Bleed" it? Finally, why isn't the cap, rated at 13 lbs., releiving this pressure?
Any help would be appreciated, before I shell out an hour's worth of a mechanic's labor to pressure test/troubleshoot the thing. Thanks in advance. Oh yeah...hoses are new.

--jim

 

swapping heater hoses will not cause this. go to auto parts box store and get a pressure tester. most lend these with a deposit.
check both the cap and the system. a system with 13# of pressure will be almost impossible to squeeze by hand.

 

I'd find out where the coolant was leaking. The pressure sounds ok for the most part, if it's not blowing the cap. Maybe the line from the radiator to the overflow bucket is leaking . MK

 

thanks for the replies. I wound up just calling my mechanic to make an appointment (I've had it with working in the cold all the time), and he talked me through it. Said to pull the cap and start it. If it was the head gasket, it would blow fluid out--it didnt. He also said that if the pressure was exceeding 13#, the cap valve would open. He said 13# feels like more when squeezing a hose by hand. Told me to bring it down if I was that concerned, but I shouldn't worry about it. I told him ok, but if a hose pops, he's flatbedding me back to the garage!

thanks again

--jim

by the way, the leak was the lower hose clamp...a li'l loose. I cinched it and haven't had a problem

 

Every once in a while mine seems to have extremly high pressure to and pushes coolent out around the water pump gasket and somewhere around the drivers side of the raditor, I've tightened everything down, wiped it clean and sometimes it will go for a week without blowing any out, but I'm losin about a pint a week.

My fac. temp guage sometimes runs on the "L", but my mechcanical mounted off the water pump is only readin 160 but when the fac. runs on the "M" the other one runs about 185. I have a almost new 190 thermostat.