In reply to Honsch :
Most cars with surge tanks (pressurized, that is) do not have expansion tanks (catch tank)... They will happily spit coolant on the ground if overfilled, brand new in 2021.
Coolant is toxic to people but it's considered to be mostly harmless in the grand scheme of things. In most areas you can flush it down the drain, the sewage treatment handles it just fine.
logdog (Forum Supporter) said:Looking at just the non-pressurized containers (to keep design choice/packing requirements out of the equation), it looks like the newest confirmed example so far for a "spit on the ground" hose is the 86 Mini. Im actually kinda surprised it would make it that new just for the environmental concerns and wanting to keep Fido from drinking coolant. It is also interesting seeing the various have/have not differences in the 60s/70s
Coolant is the least offensive thing that car dribbles on the ground.
My first experience with an expansion "tank" was more of a bag. My dad had to add one on our '57 Ford wagon on a cross-Virginia to Washington state trip. It kept overheating, especially in the mountains. He would stop at service stations, and sometimes they would blow compressed air to clear bugs out of the radiator, install a bag and tube kit to catch overflow, and eventually he got a slightly porous canvas bag for water to hang on the grille (evaporative cooling). This was in '64 or so.
In the Triumph sports car world, my experience is that overflow bottles became standard on TR4As in '65, about the same time as PCV valves replaced down-tube crankcase vents that used Bernoulli effect from the forward motion of the car. I believe they were optional on TR4s, and maybe TR3s.
On 3rd generation Honda Civics (including 1st gen CRXs), all that I ever dealt with had overflow tanks. However, they were model-specific (Si tanks were differently shaped and the DX and HF. Wagovans were also different.)
I remember the overflow "bags" on 60's stuff.
till the bags were mentioned, my mind was drawing a complete blank... owned a ton of cars from the big three in the years of the change, but can not fit the life of me remember what had them and what didn't!
Keith Tanner said:Coolant is the least offensive thing that car dribbles on the ground.
Excep to our pets. They think it's tasty, and don't know it'll kill 'em.
But as far as for the "evviroment" your quite correct!
In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :
That JD bottle is the coolest home made one I've ever seen!
Pete. (l33t FS) said:In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :
If coolant spits on the ground, that is because someone overfilled the cooling system. If there is no catch tank, you're supposed to fill the coolant to about 1-2 inches down from "full" and no more.
Radiators used to have full lines stamped into the tank that had the radiator cap. Filling the radiator all the way to the top is a relatively new idea.
But most of us never paid to much worry about that; knew I'd just piss out what it didn't need. Course back in those days, we also used the old oil for weed control on the fence line 
1986 Acura Legend has one. And it is discontinued.
03Panther said:I remember the overflow "bags" on 60's stuff.
till the bags were mentioned, my mind was drawing a complete blank... owned a ton of cars from the big three in the years of the change, but can not fit the life of me remember what had them and what didn't!
Are you sure you are not thinking of the washer fluid bag on older fords?
Early A1 water-cooled VWs did not have expansion tank. The system was closed. Later models added an overflow, then a pressurized tank. I've mixed and matched various VW water-cooled radiators over time depending on the car I was building.
My 1971 Catalina did not have one. Other people above indicated GM cars did have them in 1972 and 1973, so that may have been the changeover point.
I know early 60's FE motors had overflow tanks, they sit just above and rearward of the radiator. I don't believe my old 72 Pontiac ventura had one, just had the overflow hose down the side of the radiator. Don't recall any of my old 60's-70's mopars having one either.
In reply to rattfink81 :
That isn't an overflow, it's part of the pressurized cooling system.
Ford was way ahead of their time with that.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Your right, I knew better having owned one and the radiator cap being on it but in my defense I was half asleep when I posted as I just came off a two week vacation and readjusting to night work.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:In reply to Honsch :
Most cars with surge tanks (pressurized, that is) do not have expansion tanks (catch tank)... They will happily spit coolant on the ground if overfilled, brand new in 2021.
Coolant is toxic to people but it's considered to be mostly harmless in the grand scheme of things. In most areas you can flush it down the drain, the sewage treatment handles it just fine.
Ethylene glycol coolant is a weird one. It's biodegradeable (which is why it breaks down in the sewage treatment plant), but highly toxic to mammals until it does.
Honsch said:Look for changes in pollution laws. At some point it became frowned upon to dump toxic coolant on the road.
How can something that tastes so good, be so bad?
In reply to rslifkin :
That is why it's toxic, our bodies can metabolize it, because it is so similar to ethanol and anything that eats fruits can handle ethanol. But the metabolites are toxic. (cause crystals to form in the kidneys and cause their failure? It's bad)
Some microorganisms do love the stuff.
Ford data point here. My '69 Cougar (base, small block) did not have one from the factory. It does now.
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