here's another thought.....the little pipe to the neck of the filler joins the radiator just below the top hose and the is water above this level as the rad bleed screw is higher and has been bled so there is no air in the rad when system is hot.
Could it be that the weight of fluid in the system isn't enough to balance out the level?
Is there something
really fundimental I'm missing? on other people's car, when the filler cap is taken off does the level in the tank stay the same as when the cap was on, or does it rise when the cap is taken off?

ghead