Yesterday after finishing installing my polished plenum and valve covers I noticed the coolant overflow tank looked pretty cruddy. I thought i I could take it off, I could clean it out inside and out and make it look better.

Well, I got under the passenger side wheel well to remove that nut that can't be gotten to from the top, and sure enough, the stud was spinning. There is NO WAY to hold it from the top side, and not enough room on the bottom to grab it with a pair of needle nose vice grips, because the nut did back off enough so it's not tight, but not loose either... the whole stud is spinning

why in the world did they have to plant a stud in PLASTIC? The design was perfectly fine before 89, but somebody couldn't leave well enough alone and made the design stupid

Oh well, so now I have a nice new one on the way, and I'll have to destroy the old one to get it off.... brilliant


here's a pic of the one I bought off ebay, you can see the issue with the stud

 

so glad i have an 88. What price did you pay for the new one?

 

After shipping, it was about $30

 

Wow. Dope price, theyre trying to charge me $34 per tank for shipping to Canada. It sucks big time.

 

Probably saved $.50 in the production so some pencil pusher decided that was the way to go!

 

Just went to my dealer, and for the coolant resevoir they want $34 cnd which isnt bad, but the windsheild washer tank they want $63. wtf, that's pricey as hell

 

some washer tanks have the pump built into them, which is why they are a lot more

you check ebay? there's also vendors here on TGO that have them for good prices, but not quite as good as the deal I got. I also went with ebay because they hada very good picture of the tank for my car, not a generic picture

 

Ya, im dealing with a guy on ebay, seeing if he can give me a break on shipping. Seems to be going well.

 

Hey I'm having the same problem right now too. Do you have a link to the ebay page? I can't find it. Thanks!
Is it possible to install a pre-1989 tank into the car to avoid this in the future?

 

I am relocating mine so I can use the space to run my new intake tube. I am waiting until the last minute to remove the OEM one because of the issue you speak about. I know it will get destroyed.

 

don't know about the earlier tanks... I would imagine there would be away to make it work, but I didn't try

here's the one I bought
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/89-90...item335a60aea4


turns out this one is probably a few bucks cheaper when you include the shipping cost

http://www.moderndaymuscle.com/inc/sdetail/771

 

the only reason it would get messed up is if the nut won't back off the threads. Im not sure why the threads on mine were so messed up, but if I had soaked the threads in PB blaster before I started, the stud might not have started spinning

 

It's obvious dude.....

When the stud "breaks, GM get to sell a whole new unit. $34 vs you using a nut & bolt you already have floating around in your garage.

 

I got rid of the eyesore factory unit and installed this:



Only cost $10 bucks at Advance.

I personally think my engine bay looks soooo much better without that:

 

Looks great. I'd try and find a black cap though...

 

Yeah, I'd like to change the cap... I might change the unit all together eventually, but at the time 10 bucks seemed like a no brainer to get rid of my nasty factory one.

 

After 21 years, things deteriorate. I'd say it did its job by staying in place... even when you wanted it out If it's any consolation, cleaning the old one wouldn't get you anywhere near the look of a new replacement. The plastic itself discolors over time.

 

Is that supposed to be for the windshield washer? If so.....How do you pump the water to the wiper blades?

Looks like you took out the radiator overflow, which is what is on the other side. The stock windshield washer tank is still there.

If that for the radiator overflow/catch...Its on the wrong side.

 

I've seen people take a combo coolant/washer fluid bottle from other vehicles and relocate it to where the canister used to be. Looks better and probably less expensive.

I probably have some of the later model washer bottles in a box somewhere if anyone is interested. They probably need to be cleaned up though.

 

i used a combo box from a 93 explorer and that worked pretty well. I've since went to an aftermarket coolant overflow and haven't installed a new washer fluid bottle yet. I only drive in nice weather and haven't really needed washer fluid for several years now.

 

No, obviously it's the coolant overflow jug. Doesn't matter which side it's on.

 

Radiator...coolant......Same thing.

And it is going to hook up to the radiator how? Where? The connection is on the other end.

 

You're putting way too much thought into this. It hooks up to the radiator the same way as the factory one did... With a hose. It's just a slightly longer hose to reach the further distance.

 

And maybe your putting TOO LITTLE thought into this.

Let us know how it actually works, when the car starts to overheat.

 

I wasn't going to say anything, but I think that aftermarket mod looks cheap, like something you would buy at the container store for holding dried pinto beans in. GM's design may be flawed because of the stud design, but I never thought of it as ugly, and a clean one looks nice in the engine bay

 

Personally, I think the GM design is pretty unattractive. That's why I went through the trouble and expense of not only removing them but having the inner fenders smoothed to erase any evidence of their existance!

This is an old pic i found when i still had the L98 and the explorer overflow box


here's how it looks now... not as close up of a picture though.

 

that does look nice... but do you not have an overflow at all?

In the container store pic, the in/out hose is at the TOP of the bottle... that might work for a pressure outlet, but how would it then suck coolant back into the tank?

 

i found better pictures of when it was just done

 

I have a small overflow mounted right next to the radiator on the passenger side, it's black and you can kind of see it right next to the radiator cap in the one picture. I wish it were a bit bigger because the capacity is barely more than what's needed to compensate for expansion and contraction in the system. The hose is from the bottom on mine (as it should be!) and there is a vent on top.

 

Dangit! 58mark pointed out the flaw in Jr.'s $10 overflow tank! I was waiting to see how long it would take Jr. to figure out that there was no way for the coolant to RETURN to the radiator!

 

Lots of great ideas here, but what's the bottom line. The part costs around $30.00. When are you going to need to replace it AGAIN? It's not a $300.00 item that takes 1 1/2 hours to install. Yeah I see your point about the hold down bolt spinning around, but I changed mine (1991 Formula) about 2 years ago and it came right out with any trouble, so it must be Murphy's Law that only applies to certain items.

 

hate to see anybody burn up an engine that way... especially when they bought a part that was supposed to be for that application.

Now, if he keeps using it and still burns up his engine, I won't have any sympathy

 

before you rip JR apart, I'd say there's a very VERY good chance that bottle has an internal dip tube to recover coolant from the bottom of the bottle.

 

The hose on the top of the bottle isn't for the radiator, that's a built in overflow for the overflow bottle. The hose that goes to the radiator is on the bottom, and you can see it in the picture.

My 350 runs at a cool 190 degrees even in 100 degree weather.

 

I dont see a hose on the bottom, if it's there, good for you

I'm confused about your first comment about the top tube being an overflow for the overflow bottle... what in world is it attached to if it's not the radiator?

 

it just runs out onto the street. if there's too much pressure or too much fluid the thing will pop if you dont let it blow out.

 

It's the black hose that runs in front of the radiator, it's visible in the picture.

If the system is overfull (past the capacity of the overflow) it will drain through the clear hose onto the street as mentioned. That hose also acts as a vent to allow air in when coolant is pulled back through the system, and to expel air when the system overflows.

 

Well some engineer was probably sitting around one day wondering how to keep their job and decided if they make it out of plastic they can save a nickel.


On my RS I had they had a polished aluminum coolant/windshield combo tank that was about the size of a battery that went where the EVAP canister used to be. But i CANT FIND THEM anywhere! It was the perfect solution to those ugly resevoirs but I cannot for the life of me find one.



Its in the right corner of this pic
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...camaro_006.jpg

 

Ya, that's clean as hell. I love it.

 

I have the same coolant bottle as Jr. and it works great! There is a hose at the bottom, Duh. The top hose is the overflow hose.

 

Thats a nice looking engine jr., if anyone finds out where they sell the rectangular aluminum overflow/windshield combo tank let me know!!