pressure in radiator
 

Opened the radiator on my sbc camaro drag car the day after the races when it was cold and noticed it had pressure in the radiator.Is this normal,car runs great.

Do a differential compression test, you may have a blown head gasket. You might try retorquing your head bolts, can't hurt. No, a cold pressurized radiator is not normal.

Head gaskets are not leaking internally

i had this problem in my sprint car engine a couple of years ago. It never ran hot, but would loose a little water and a few days after racing when I removed the radiator cap it would release pressure. It ended up being a hairline crack in one of the cylinders.

I pressure tested the cooling system and could not find anything. It was such a fine crack it would only open up when the motor was up to temp. Combustion gasses in the cooling system is the only thing that will keep the radiator pressurized.

I did a combustion gas detector test and fluid did not turn yellow and this morning no pressure in radiator.

Could possibly be cavitation in the water pump.
seen it a few times.
make sure you bleed out the air in the system.
Al

I just found out that the Recirculating/catch can inner tube is broken,could this possibly cause air to draw back in the system,and pressurize the radiator after a day of racing when the system is cold?I have zero loss of coolant.

Try another radiator cap...

-I did,same thing happens

pressure
 

I seem to get in unique situations. Everyone seems to run a 1 qt overflow tank. On my past 2 cars, it would always over flow if I added enough water to when it cooled down it would not suck air back in. On the roadster we kept adding capasity till it worked right, on the dragster had to add a 2nd tank hooked in series. It now holds enough water that only water is sucked back in. Works great like this, and I now suck off the bottom. I could just never get it to work with 1 qt. Good Luck.PS I run my over flow tube from the can out back past the chute just in case it over flows, it will not get under the tires. :wink: