
Originally Posted by
clay
the cap is going to be hot after you drive it. the purpose of the cap is to let off excess pressure in case the system creates more steam than it can handle. it has a little spring loaded thing inside. you should have an overflow jug connected with a tube to your radiator somewhere in the engine bay. after your car has cooled down for a couple of hours, go out there with a flashlight and look at the level of the fluid in the overflow jug. there ought to be a little line on the outside that says "full," "hot," "cold," something of that nature. make sure you have fluid in the jug and that its near whatever line there is. otherwise if you are leaking an excessive amount of fluid, some is normal, look to see where its coming from the next time your car has been running for a while. if its actually leaking out of your radiator, water pump, or one of the hoses, thats a much better situation than if you have coolant disappearing. the outside parts of your cooling system are meant to be replaced at certain intervals and you need to figure out which one of them it is.