Are Stant Radiator Caps now Junk?
I replaced my radiator about 2 weeks ago, and I've been troubleshooting minor leaks ever since. First a heater hose blew, easy fix, and yesterday driving home my heat starts blowing cold, so I check and I'm about a half gallon low on coolant.
I head to work today and I burp out about a gallon of coolant as soon as I turn off the truck, coming right from the cap.
I looked at my Stant cap and noticed it was bent out of shape so it wouldn't hit the threads right. So tonight I swing by autozone on my break, only 1/10th of a mile from my work so the engine was still cool and pick up a new Stant cap and this one wouldn't even thread on, was about 1/8th to big, so I return that one and curb beat my old one back into shape so it fit a bit better. After work I took the plyers to it and snugged it up a bit more.
So, I get home, no leak this time, but checking local parts stores for a Non-Stant cap I see some reviews on the Advance Auto site saying that the pressure release on these caps doesn't work right and it can over pressurize the system causing other problems. Aparently the pressure got so high that it bent the cap out of shape on my truck.
I know Stant used to be the standard replacement cap, but has there quaility control gone to crap recently? Any recomendations for a better replacement? Seeing how I've wasted $15 worth of coolant I don't mind spending at least that much for a better cap that isn't going to cause more problems.
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