joeb Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 my daughter was driving my seville today and called to say t he low coolant message was on. she also said there was a nice puddle under the car. she was several miles from home so i drove over and checked it out. the top radiator hose was disconected at the radiator. hmm, thats not good. i put the hose back on and filled up the surge tank and drove home. the temp gauge read normal. the hose is 2yrs old. maybe when i replaced it i did not push it on far enough on the radiator inlet? i washed out the engine compartment with a hose and tried to clean out the radiator fins. i went for a 1/2 hr drive and everything seems fine. normal temp gauge. when a hose fails, do they usually burst? how common is it for the radiator hose to completely blow off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 my daughter was driving my seville today and called to say t he low coolant message was on. she also said there was a nice puddle under the car. she was several miles from home so i drove over and checked it out. the top radiator hose was disconected at the radiator. hmm, thats not good. i put the hose back on and filled up the surge tank and drove home. the temp gauge read normal. the hose is 2yrs old. maybe when i replaced it i did not push it on far enough on the radiator inlet? i washed out the engine compartment with a hose and tried to clean out the radiator fins. i went for a 1/2 hr drive and everything seems fine. normal temp gauge. when a hose fails, do they usually burst? how common is it for the radiator hose to completely blow off? Looks like the clamp was not tight enough. That's it. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted October 26, 2005 Report Share Posted October 26, 2005 That is VERY unlikely. I agree with Adallak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeb Posted October 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 I fixed the hose on tuesday and than looked over the radiator area last nite. the bottom of the radiator support on the driver side was dry. than this morning my daughter left for school and i checked the parking spot in the garage and there is some leakage on the floor on the passenger side. dang, how could i look on the driver side and see nothing and not look on the passenger side? there was even a trail of coolant on the driveway from where the car came in wed. evening. i replaced the heater hoses a year ago. i know the surge tank fittings are fairly complicated. there are rubber hoses and steel lines as well under the tank. hmm, maybe i overfilled the radiator and its just blowing out the overflow? i called my daughter at school but she had her cellphone set to voicemail. she knows enough to watch for the low coolant message at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navion Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 I too, have had an upper radiator hose come off at the radiator connection. I had installed a new radiator & hoses about two months earlier. I reinstalled the hose and made sure that the clamp (worm gear type) was tightened properly. I checked it again about two weeks later and found that the hose had slipped about a half an inch! I checked the clamp and while it was tight, it did seem looser than when I last checked it. I loosened the clamp, slid the hose back, and then installed a second clamp, but I turned it 180 degrees from the other to even out the clamping pressure. I have never had this problem before on any vehicle that I have maintained. I am attributing the problem to the plastic nipples on the radiator. I am assuming that they soften slightly at temperature and relax the clamping pressure slightly. After several temperature cycles this would allow the hose to migrate off of the nipple. I think that the snap ring type clamps that are OEM are better suited to clamping on plastic radiator nipples. Due to their nature, they will expand and contract along with the radiator nipple, keeping an even pressure on the hose connection. Now to add to the above, we recently have had a little cold weather. Nothing serious, mid to upper thirties a couple of days. Now, after all spring and summer, without a coolant leak, the double clamped upper radiator hose started seeping again! I rechecked the clamps for tightness, and they were loose again! I guess that it is time to bite the bullet and order some OEM clamps! Britt Britt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickySantoro Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 Check for a crack in the end tank at the hose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted November 13, 2005 Report Share Posted November 13, 2005 .... I think that the snap ring type clamps that are OEM are better suited to clamping on plastic radiator nipples. Due to their nature, they will expand and contract along with the radiator nipple, keeping an even pressure on the hose connection. Now to add to the above, we recently have had a little cold weather. Nothing serious, mid to upper thirties a couple of days. Now, after all spring and summer, without a coolant leak, the double clamped upper radiator hose started seeping again! I rechecked the clamps for tightness, and they were loose again! I guess that it is time to bite the bullet and order some OEM clamps! Britt No question about the spring type clamps being better suited. If you have not seen a "new" design spring clamp in the past several years, you will certainly notice there in now a lock built in that will hold the clamp in the open position. Makes it a little easier to R&R. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeb Posted November 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2005 the radiator hose stayed tight. than the next day I noticed that it was wet under the WP. I put in a new WP and the next day I found out I had not tightened the WP hose clamp. duh. I had replaced the heater core hoses last year. they have spring clamps on them. that area seems tight and dry. that was very odd to have a WP start to leak several days after the radiator hose popped off. really makes me wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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