Can these reservoirs fail? I had a though while I was pouring more water into my rad to cover the ---- that steamed out... the water fills up the neck where the tube leading to the resrvoir is, and water travels down this tube. When it reaches my already full resevoir, the water simply leaks out from under the lid....is all of this trouble coming from the reservoir being faulty, or do they do that always?

 

dude, the reservoir shouldnt ever be full... theres a full hot line on it, you need somewhere for the coolant to go as it heats it expands.

 

cold car, full reservoir. for whatever reason.
so now if I add water to the rad, should it freely pour out of the res?

 

So your overflow resrvoir is filling up? Sounds like a blown head gasket to me.

 

same problem i had with a hatch a used to own.....take the rad cap off and start the car....if it starts bubbling out everywhere...then ur head gasket is done for....this was the case for me....

 

already established headgasket not blown
its the radiator so I am going to replace it
I was hoping convince myslef the res was at fault

 

headgasket, my car did the same thing then it just started drinking it like brothas drinkin heinies, then started bubbling and foaming out. But hey I'm still driving it at 5lbs raping the ---- out of it

 

How

I hadthe same problem, HG was blown, wentarp oem HG and copper spray... new thermo statand radiator too...All is good again!!!