So its Fathers Day today and my husband and I decided to change the radiator in my 2004 Blazer 4.3L. Everthing has gone GREAT until me and the kids went to gas this afternoon. We came home and I popped the hood to check my fluid level in the resevior and noticed the smallest hose that connects from the coolant resevior to the radiator (right by the Radiator cap) has a drip, drip, drip going on with a sizzling noise. Now What? Is air trying to escape? After we ( the hubs and I) got everything changed and hooke and filled back up all I did was start the truck and drove around the block. Are we missing a step? I've read you can get air pockets or "burp" your truck and so many other things. I did however (after the hubs left for work) go out and start my truck turn the heat on HIGH/Hot and I let it run for 10 Minutes and it really leaked after I turned it off. Please help!! I have a 5 Hour mail route to run in less than7 hours!! I don't want to mess up my engine or anything else. I forgot to mention we changed the radiator because it leaked all week long and I took it to the shop on Fri and they told me it was the bottom of the raditor that was leaking. By the next day I made such a mess in the driveway after my mail run (shop is closed on Satand Sun) that my husband cracked open the owners manual, left for work early to buy all the goods and when he got home this morning well WE went to work. Everything went smooth until putting the 4 lines back on (it was tough) but he finally got. Thanks for all and any advice. Can't wait to fix it!!

 

Sounds like it's over heating & you may have an air pocket. How's the temp on the gauge, is it above 195?
The rad cap is venting excess pressure to the resivoir tank so I wouldn't worry about that. The cap is doing what it's supposed to.
1 way to try to get rid of an air pocket is to drive the front PS side tire up on blocks or jack it up. This is because air rises to the top. Pop the rad cap off (when the engine is cool) & let it idle to operating temp. Rev it a few times to around 1000 or so rpm for 10 seconds with the heater on & check the rad level. You may have to add more coolant so have it mixed & ready.
This should help the air pocket move to the rad & then out IE Burp!
It may take 15 mins or so & the more time the more assurance you have that it's burped.
Drive it a few miles while it's still at operating temp with the cap on of course & hopefully all will be well.

 

My temperature guage reads 100-210-260 with notches in between (im new at all this repair stuff sorry) and the needle stays two notches before the 210 spot.
will get one notch before the 210 spot then goes back down to the two notches before 210 again. I would guess it around normal temperature. Thanks so much for the info. As soon as the hubs gets home we are going to get at this thing.

 

Yeah that seems normal. Our blazers like to run fairly hot - IE: 195F

 

You will never guess what was wrong with my truck......Let me start from the begining. I bought my Blazer in Sept 2009 it had 88,000 miles on it. I use at as my mail truck and now it has 134,??? and its been a great truck for all I put it through 6 days a week. There has been 4 seperate occassions where I would smell a "syrup" smell as I was driving my mail route and I would call my dad and tell him and he would come over to my house when I would get home and put this stuff call "dog turd" in my coolant resevior. And like magic the smell would go away and all was well with my truck. Until this past week when my radiator started leaking (read the first thread) and the smell was horrid and my driveway looks terrible now from all the leaks. So the RAD got changed Sunday and then other things started to leak that wasn't leaking before. So yesterday morning I took it to the shop and guess what?! The BRAND NEW RADIATOR is clogged! WTH! The guys at the shop started squeezing the hoses and checking everything. They said the Hubs did a great job on the new RAD but they were shocked when the hoses were crunchy and the new Rad was clogged where the hoses connect. Well Long story short (even though its long enough already) The DOG TURD stuff is the culprit. Its like cement! Its real name is called Barr's Leak. And no one ever read directions because my dad never had any since the stuff came from a Factory where they build trucks that my dad got it from years and years ago, come to find out. Well the way its supposed to be used is if you have a leak from heater core, radiator, or the hoses you put in a tablet run the motor and then PURGE the system. Well he just kept adding and adding the the dog turd stuff and well my truck almost puked. So its been at the shop since yesterday afternoon and I picked up about an hour ago. They had to clean and clean and clean all the radiator stuff, hoses, and resevior (which looked like a cave inside, it really had stalactites and stalagmites). Even after all the flushing, purging and cleaning, there are still chunks in there that are working its way loose now that fluid can actually flow through everything. What an unbeleivable experience. Well I know one thing, the DOG TURD stuff really works at blocking holes but PLEASE PURGE THE SYSTEM!! lol It should only be in the radiator system for no more than 48 hours. No more dog turds for my truck!! Except the ones i might run over!! Jk I hope someone can learn from my mistake.

 

Several companies make radiator stop leak products. They all do basically the same thing, plug up holes.... even the holes you DON'T want plugged. Best to stay away from all products that claim they "fix leaks". Best to fix the problem, don't try to cover it up like a "cat turd" in a sand box Glad you got her fixed, and thanks for posting back with the "fix".