tulaweb Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 Boy I've never been so glad to see a leaky hose in my life! Yesterday I thought I blew a head gasket. While driving at highway speed, I saw steam coming from under the hood. I added coolant, which was down about half a gallon, and drove home about 10 miles, adding coolant once or twice along the way. The temperature gauge was not up too high and the idiot light didn’t come on, but you can’t trust those things on a 27 year old car, and when it looks like its boiling over it’s hard to dispute that it’s hot. I saw no steam from the exhaust, water in the oil or dripping externally, but the coolant was loosing at least a pint a mile and it had to be going someplace. This morning I went out and it started fine with no smoke or steam out the exhaust. I left it running at idle for a few minutes and found a significant puddle of coolant just inside of the right front tire. I can see a substantial drip from above there someplace. That’s right under the coolant expansion tank and when I removed that and rummaged underneath it, I found the hose from the engine block to the heater core was rubbing against a bolt and the manifold and had sprung a leak. I guess yesterday when it was all warmed up, the coolant was evaporating, as it leaked out onto the engine and the outside of the exhaust, and not making it to the ground. I did see some steam in that area, but with the coolant level being low I thought it came from the expansion tank. With no puddle on the ground, I wasn't thinking of an external leak like that. The temperature gauge never went all that high, but when I saw it apparently boiling over, my mind switched to causes and effects of over heating rather than that leaky hose. I've learned not to trust electrical things like temperature gauges and sending units on these cars so it was easy to discount the fact that it wasn't reading all that high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 With hoses like that - you best be looking at ALL the coolant hoses to ensure you don't have any more spontaneous leaks. I had a Subaru had a hose blow out. After the third hose split - I ordered and replaced ALL the hoses. Sure enough - missed a little one that went to the throttle body and even that one started leaking a few weeks later! Now if one hose goes I check and replace all of them that are the same age / condition as a matter of course. VERY happy for you that a hose was the issue though - it really is such a nice feeling of relief when you find an EASY fix! Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulaweb Posted March 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 That's probably an original hose. I do have more hoses and belts to change but even that hose was OK except the 6 inch section that was rubbing on the manifold and that bolt. I did replace the whole hose anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 does the new hose rub against the bolt too? 'cause if it does, then in another 27 years, bang, you'll be looking at another leak.... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulaweb Posted March 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 does the new hose rub against the bolt too? 'cause if it does, then in another 27 years, bang, you'll be looking at another leak.... andré I was thinking the same thing Maybe I should get some Stainless Steel Flex Hose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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