ive redone my colling system, including hoses, tstat coolant flush, and coolant. the only thing i didnt change was the radiator cap, i took it off to inspect and the only thing wrong with it, that i saw, was the worn out black seal that goes to the bottom of it. i took the seal i had on an extra radiator cap from auto zone i had laying around and replaced it. reason i didnt use the auto zone cap was because i didnt think the part was important, plus i perfer the mazda one better.

is there anything wrong with what i did?
whats the importance of a radiator cap?
how would i know if i have a bad radiator cap?

thanks

 

As the coolant warms up it expands. When enough pressure builds up the cap releases the excess coolant into the resivoir. When the engine cools the coolant system sucks the coolant back in from the resivoir. If the cap is not working correct, this process might not be working right.

 

Radiator caps are one of the biggest things over looked in a cooling system...

radiator caps can cause

inporper bleeding
inproper cooling
inproper collecting in the res
inpropper efficiency
leaking problems

A whole mess load of things...

radiator caps are meant to be replaced evertime u change the coolant IMO they should be changed anually ESPECIALLY for the cost.

once the seal gets worn it will not function properly..

replace the cap with a oem one and call it a day!


I tried to pm u but your box must be full hit me up!

 

so if the radiator cap isnt working, it would cause the buzzer to go off and the car to over heat causing the temp gauge to increase?

after driving the car for about 40 minutes, i took the cap off to see if it would over flow, which would indicate it expanding into the res. the coolant was gushing out, is that normal?