coolant reservoir replacement/mod
 

Any ideas for switching out my coolant reservoir? So far, I have come up with two different ideas. One, is just to switch out the reservoir with a totally different one out of another car. This will most likely require some kind of modification, because of the coolant level sensor that is on the Alero, and it might prove to be difficult to think this out enough to complete. My other option is to buy a stock coolant reservoir, and switch out the radiator, probably from a '95 Buick Park Aveenue, which will require a mod to the body under the hood to make room for the radiator cap on the new radiator.


I will definitely be making ONE of these two mods, because I absolutely hate the stock coolant reservoir for this car. The only way to know if you have the cap seated and sealed correctly is to fire it up and drive it, which is NOT cool, because if you get stuck in a traffic jam and that needle keeps climbing, you're pretty much screwed. This has almost happened to me once, but at the last second, I found a spot to pull off the road and shut the car down before the needle made that last jump from the 3/4 mark into the red, but I barely made it. I'm pretty sure that this is part of the reason for some of these gaskets going bad, and I don't feel like replacing these gaskets every few years, not to mention the damage that is done to other parts of the car from the heat. So any ideas or thoughts will be greatly appreciated!!

I only ask, because I want to get this squared away before I replace the gaskets, or else it won't be too long until I'm dealing with the gaskets all over again. In my car, the reservoir is part of my heating problem, and since it has to be addressed, I want to get it finished before I start dealing with the gaskets, which will only be like a revolving door if I don't deal with the reservoir first.

I know, some of you are fine with stock reservoir, and that's cool, but I hate the cursed thing, and I'm about to deal with it once and for all!! See, I'm thinking that my best option is going to be to replace my current reservoir with a replacement OEM and switch out the radiator with one from a different car. I will most likely be using the radiator out of a '95 Buick Park Ave, because my dad just bought one, and it has pretty much the same motor, only it's a few years older. In theory, this will make the reservoir act as a reservoir instead of a miniature radiator, plus, I'll be able to actually pop the cap off of the radiator and see if it's low or not. Anyway, any thoughts will be appreciated, and thanks in advance!

-_-

It's not the reservoir or the cap. How do you know that it's "part of your heating problem?" Of course we're all fine with the stock reservoir, because it can't cause any issues besides not dumping coolant everywhere when your system is overpressurized. It's a failsafe, not a problem source.

It's something else that's causing the cap to bulge with pressure. Clearly you have some issue that is causing overpressurization in your cooling system. The gaskets go bad on the 3400 because GM used horrible quality lower intake manifold gaskets, which don't react well with Dex-Cool (or any coolant for that matter) and end up failing.

What happened to this? Here's your problem. Now all of a sudden you dodge the real issues and further complain that your coolant tank is the problem. I mean DUH?!! Fix those issues, and realize the problem isn't the reservoir. It's doing its job trying to relieve the pressure in the system. You have something that's way overpressurizing everything.

I really don't understand why you are doing this.

The problem is not the cap on the system, there is a problem elsewhere.

Take it somewhere to get it fixed the right way, there are guys that are running turbos, s/c, and major interal mods. These guys are push in the area of 50 to 100 hp more than stock, on the stock coolant tank. The tank is not the problem

I'm doing it because I don't like to guess about whether the cap is seated right or not. The only way you really ever know is if the car starts to heat up. My reservoir tank needs to be replaced anyway, because the threads on it are messed up, so I figured I might as well make the mod at the same time. I'll let you all know how I make out, and thanks for your assistance gang! Your input is greatly appreciated!

So far, I've only replaced the old reservoir with a new OEM one, and like I was saying before, it definitely WAS part of my problem. The new is working a thousand times better than the old one was, and there isn't any trouble tightening or loosening the cap. The old one was a monster to deal with, so it had to go, mostly because on the day I ordered the replacement reservoir, I was trying to take the cap off to check the fluid level, and the threaded half of the cap stayed locked into the tank, and the top part of the cap came off in my hand. Good thing I ordered that replacement reservoir. Anyhoot, I've changed my mind about this mod for now, but I might consider it again in the future. Thanks for your input, gang.

No problem homeslice drizzle.