Radiator Hose
 

Afternoon all.

Was driving home yesterday, only a short journey, when I got a whiff of a blown head gasket. Poor sods I thought then I noticed a bit of smoke billowing up from under my bonnet. To say my arse nearly fell out is an understatement! Checked my instrument cluster, all ok, temp normal, no warning lights, still running and driving fine so I poodled home which was under a mile. Lifted the bonnet close to tears when I spot the top hose from the rad to the block has a tiny hole in it and is squirting water onto my engine which is running down and burning on the bottom (manifold?). Anyway much to my relief I've ordered some new Samco's to replace the offending hose and was wondering.....

Will I need to bleed the system just to replace the top rad hose? Thanks in advance and Appologies for the long winded post. Stu.

yes......

Use it as an excuse to the replace the coolant :)

Cheers guys, just found that out when it got a touch hot! Trying to find out how to do it now. :sos: Why is nothing simple?! Coolant was only changed a few months ago Steve, was going to get the rest of the Samco coolant hoses and do it again then just before winter......If i've not blown it up trying to do this that is!

Having researched what is required to get rid of an air lock, looks like I'll be calling someone out to do it for me!

what, patience? lol

IF I knew what I was doing,which I don't, I would have a go at it mate. But from what I've read I've got to drain the system and start again. Apart from the fact I've nowhere to do that, I tried to fix it earlier and when I checked the temp gauge, it was a needles width away from being in the Red! That was enough for me, don't mind playing about but if I stuff it up, it's going to be one hell of an expensive lesson! What if it's not an airlock but something more sinister? I wouldn't have a clue! I may have already done damage letting it get that hot. I can sit and talk about cars all day long, mechanics/engineering however and I'm a very lost little boy :-)

it's probably different on my classic to yours then. first time I did it, I still had air in the system (Not a lot) and I got an ECL for the temp sensor but apart from that, the temp gauge seemed normal.


how did you fill it up? cuz if it was cold, the thermostat at the bottom of the engine would have been closed and meant your rad didnt fill maybe ? when I do mine from completely empty, I always turn ignition on and put the heater to fully hot, leave the top rad hose connected to just the radiator and use it to fill the rad side of the system, then engine side, then connect the other end and fill up as normal to fill the engine side of the thermostat. when it seems full, swueeze both top and bottom hoses to get air out, put the cap on, run it for a minuite, turn it off, let it cool and check level again

All sorted now, rather embarrassing as it was only because it didn't have enough water in. I didn't know you don't fill them from the expansion bottle! Never had a car where you fill from other than there to be honest! Oh well you live and earn, know what to do next time now :-)

numpty lol.
at least you know for next time. I have seen worse things though:-

I breifly did roadside recovery for a company that were contracted to take the overflow from the AA and the RAC. one time I went out to a BMW at elephant and castle that had just stopped working. I asked the guy if he had been to the petrol station recently thinking he may have put deisel in it instead of petrol. he said yes, but only to get some oil to top it up. I asked him where he put it in and he took the coolant cap off and said "there".
needless to say I just towed him to a garage

Haha, yeah I did feel a bit silly! However reading your story about the beema driver has made me feel a bit better,lol. I won't touch anything I'm not sure about. Assumption is the mother of all f**k ups! Although I got it wrong with the expansion bottle, it is there soley for coolant! I've heard of people filling oil up through their dip stick holes before, I'm not that bad :-)