960 coolant pressure question

[GardensInMyMind]

Hi
1997 960, A good beastie
About 1 month ago I checked the coolant (when dead cold), and when I took the cap off, it hissed at me and spit coolant. I changed the pressure cap, made sure I got the correct PSI. A hose leaked, replaced it. Now more hoses are dripping, and it's still spewing at me when cold. I can't prove it, but I think the hoses are just reacting to overpressure in the coolant system. I don't think they are the cause of this...
Question: Is there anything obvious I should be checking that I haven't? I haven't had time to look at it closely (in mid-move) and I hope to get the manual out soon and try to debug it, but if anyone knows something obvious I'm missing, I'd LOVE to hear it

[93Regina]

1997 960

With a cold engine, remove radiator fill cap, start engine, and place palm of hand over fill-hole to make it seal...let motor idle...is there pressure there...yes...HG blown...Fail.

[GardensInMyMind]

Thank you Will check. It's not showing any oil problems that I associate with head gasket, so I hadn't considered that.
It occured to me yesterday that the other thing that changed about the time this started is I fixed the vacuum tubes that control the venting selection (I don't know the word, the thing that makes it so the heater or A/C air comes out at the feet, or face etc as requested) and have had the heater on... Not sure how that might affect things, The A/C is a known issue (I think it's possible the compression pump is bad on it) but the heater is very effective, especially now that the selector works.

[lummert]

Locate a coolant system pressure tester kit. Follw instructions with the kit. With this tester you can test for leaks, and also test for pressure increase with engine running that would indicate a blown head gasket.