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The radiator cap is more than a cap for your radiator; it keeps your engine cool by sealing and pressurizing the coolant inside it. It is designed to hold the coolant in the radiator under a predetermined amount of pressure. If it was not kept under pressure, it would begin to boil, and soon all the coolant would have boiled away. However, the radiator (or pressure) cap prevents this from happening by exerting enough pressure to keep the coolant from boiling. If your cooling system is under too much pressure, it can "blow its top"! To prevent this, the radiator cap has a pressure relief valve. The valve has a preset rating that allows it to take just up to a certain amount of pressure. When you turn the cap on the filler neck of the radiator, you seal the upper and lower sealing surfaces of the filler neck. The pressure relief valve spring is compressed against the lower seal when you lock the cap. The radiator filler neck has an overflow tube right between the two sealing surfaces.
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