I am wondering if my Canton expansion/recovery tank setup is working properly. I am using a Canton 80-200 Fill Tank at the highest point in the cooling system and have the barbed fitting in the side plumbed to the bottom inlet of a Canton 80-201 Recovery tank placed down low alongside the ZF Transaxle. Radiator cap is 13psi on the fill tank and the recovery tank has its own cap that I am told vents outward but not inward.
The idea was to allow heated/expanded coolant to flow out the side nipple of the fill tank and down into the recovery tank, then suck back in as the engine cooled. I filled the recovery tank halfway with coolant and expected this level would rise when the car was warmed up, then drop back to half when cool. In practice, there is no level change whatsover.
Today, after a drive that got the coolant up to temp, I let the car cool down then opened the radiator cap on the fill tank, expecting the level to be right flush with the inlet to the side nipple leading to the recovery tank plumbing. Instead, a bunch of slightly pressurized (but cool) coolant flooded out. Why was it not forcing its way into the line leading to the recovery tank? I pulled off that line wondering if it was plugged and am able to blow in it and cause bubbles in the recovery tank but it takes a decent amount of lung power to do so. When I topped off the fill tank, I intentionally filled it past the level where the inlet to the side nipple is, again expecting it to flow in there like a sink or bathtub overflow. Instead, it filled right past it (see pic) and would have just poured out of the fill tank if I hadn't stopped. Why is this excess fluid not going into the overflow line leading to the recovery tank? Isn't that the whole point of this design?
Also, how can it ever function when the radiator cap rubber plunger goes down past the level of the side nipple, effectively blocking it? I called Canton Engineering and their own tech support couldn't answer this or explain why/how it works. Would this system only work if the pressure were so high that it was threatening to blow the radiator cap and then it just pushes the cap spring enough to vent some fluid into the overflow line? If so, what would ever cause it to "suck back in" to the fill tank once cooled off? The radiator cap spring and rubber plunger would again be blocking the side nipple/port so how could the coolant ever "recover" back into the fill tank?
I have either screwed up the plumbing of this somehow or am misunderstanding how the system is supposed to work!
The idea was to allow heated/expanded coolant to flow out the side nipple of the fill tank and down into the recovery tank, then suck back in as the engine cooled. I filled the recovery tank halfway with coolant and expected this level would rise when the car was warmed up, then drop back to half when cool. In practice, there is no level change whatsover.
Today, after a drive that got the coolant up to temp, I let the car cool down then opened the radiator cap on the fill tank, expecting the level to be right flush with the inlet to the side nipple leading to the recovery tank plumbing. Instead, a bunch of slightly pressurized (but cool) coolant flooded out. Why was it not forcing its way into the line leading to the recovery tank? I pulled off that line wondering if it was plugged and am able to blow in it and cause bubbles in the recovery tank but it takes a decent amount of lung power to do so. When I topped off the fill tank, I intentionally filled it past the level where the inlet to the side nipple is, again expecting it to flow in there like a sink or bathtub overflow. Instead, it filled right past it (see pic) and would have just poured out of the fill tank if I hadn't stopped. Why is this excess fluid not going into the overflow line leading to the recovery tank? Isn't that the whole point of this design?
Also, how can it ever function when the radiator cap rubber plunger goes down past the level of the side nipple, effectively blocking it? I called Canton Engineering and their own tech support couldn't answer this or explain why/how it works. Would this system only work if the pressure were so high that it was threatening to blow the radiator cap and then it just pushes the cap spring enough to vent some fluid into the overflow line? If so, what would ever cause it to "suck back in" to the fill tank once cooled off? The radiator cap spring and rubber plunger would again be blocking the side nipple/port so how could the coolant ever "recover" back into the fill tank?
I have either screwed up the plumbing of this somehow or am misunderstanding how the system is supposed to work!