Questions and Answers

Fleetwood Under No Pressure Q. I own a 1982 Cadillac Fleetwood with a 250 ci engine, with air conditioner, cruise, DFI fuel injection. It has boiling problem, and we have found that the system is not pressurized. It runs till the water gets hot and expands out through a pipe which runs from the water pump to the bottom of the header tank, and the water overflows out of the header tank.

Can you tell me if the water pump end of this pipe has some sort of non-return valve on it to keep the water pressurized.

M Nash

A. The cooling system on that engine is pretty basic. It's been a while since I have seen one of those and I'm not sure what you mean by "header tank". Maybe the coolant reserve tank?

I do know there aren't any kind of check valves in that cooling system. If the system is not building up pressure, the first thing I would suggest you do is replace the radiator cap.