Coolant overflow tank

19 Jan 2006 Coolant overflow tank

I went to the local junkyard to try to find a coolant overflow tank. I looked in about 50 cars. One pattern I found was that the best places to find stuff are the “smaller” brand cars. Here, it’s the Peugeot, Fiat, Renault, Volvo -type cars that have the best stuff, since it is not totally customized to the exact application in the car. You can find round and square stuff in these cars, not in the Japanese or German cars.

Anyway, I did find a perfect overflow tank in a Suzuki something-or-other. I didn’t note the model, since I saw the exact same tank in all the Suzukis I saw there. Here are some photos:

The tank holds just under a liter of liquid, and has cool lines that tell you how much to put in! The hoses are standard 8mm (5/16″) ID, so this will be a perfect match. Mounting will be done as they did it in the car, with a piece of metal that the tank slides on, and then sort of “clicks” into place. I’ll be fabricating that later.

BTW, this cost me 5 CHF, or about $3.75. It’s strange, there are three guys that work at the junkyard. The owner, his adult son, and a third guy. The third guy always gives me good deals. The owner is also pretty fair. However, the son usually charges about 4x what the other guys charge. He’s downright mean! I really expected him to say 20 CHF, but he said 5. Perhaps he’s getting soft.