I had to pull my hose off to check once with the expansion tank cap off( lets the pressure out), I am sure you dont have a radiator cap, thier unsafe to open while they are hot anyway.

I have always wanted to install a glass or high temp clear plastic 6" long tube by cutting out a section of my coolant hose, just so I can pop the hood and look, and not have to rip crap apart.

 

mike, if you were referring to my post, no one says to remove cap when engine is hot. remove cap just when you started it, or have it removed and then start engine. some spillage will occur, easily refillable later. i have done this test on countless cars, never had any trouble. saved some country boy in TN lots of money, as he already replaced everything obvious on his 80sh chevy, trying to prevent it from overheating. we did this test and sure enough - beer foam right there at the start up.

funny enough, we bought 94 mitsubishi expo lrv from him. ain't his kinda car. ended being best car we ever had, we loved it BADLY.

 

That does sound like a cool idea, that is right up there with the clear distributor caps you used to be able to get....
they stopped selling them because of the radio interference they caused or so I heard...

 

I wanna do it, Where can you get glass tubes? The only thing I can think of is getting a clear glass "water filtered tobacco pipe" and cutting off the spout.

 

I just meant that most newer cars dont have rad. caps anymore, the surge tank has enough air in it to slowly let the pressure out when its hot. I just did that when it was hot once with the engine off to see if it had air bubbles. I did wear some heavy rubber gloves because it does spill on your hands a little when removing the hose. The surge tank doesnt show the real conditions of whats really going on in the lines from my experience.

 

Mine definitely has a radiator cap. I haven't had a chance to do anything just yet with it though...hopefully I will in the next week.

 

I don;t think you need glass but acrylic tubing or clear PVC should hold up to the temp

 

Well pet stores sell clear acrylic tubing for fish tanks, I will go look and see one of these days soon. that would make a cool DIY.

 

Has anyone removed the lower radiator hose to drain instead of the radiator drain plug?

I can't remember exactly how it looks under there but it maybe easier to get to.