The top radiator hose burst ony mate's Honda Odyssey. It's round about 2000 model with over 200,000k on it. My question is shouldn't the radiator cap release pressure before the hose burst? Maybe he needs a new cap as well. And what would have caused the pressure build up? Or just an old perished hose?
toyboy3,
May 24, 4:02am
Combustion gas in the cooling system is known to burst a hose , suggest a TK head check before proceeding as the bill could balloon out to more than the vehicle is worth
tamarillo,
May 24, 4:30am
Sad story, my sons BMW 318 overheated on the bypass out to Richmond. He stopped and being non mechanical just a called AA. AA person couldn’t understand where he was, wanted a street number but there is none. Explained he was near the round about on deviation etc etc but no understanding. Hung up as by now someone had stopped to help and they filled up the washer fluid bottle with water and said he was good to go. Boiled it on way home of course. Top radiator hose has huge split so no coolant left. You guessed it, head gasket blown. Not worth fixing. Lesson, download AA app as that will tell them where you are. And don’t trust helpful people with containers of water!
PS. Have set of 15’ BMW alloys with near new GT Radials for sale in Nelson!
curlcrown,
May 24, 4:33am
Possibly the original hose so around 20 years old. If no other symptoms I would simply replace the hose and monitor carefully over the next few days. A hose is not expensive so no need to make it more complicated than it needs to be. But while the hose if off I would flush the old coolant out and renew.
amasser,
May 24, 6:24am
Time to open the bonnet and see what is there. That anybody would mistake washer bottle for a radiator is rather odd.
franc123,
May 24, 6:50am
Lol the lesson there is dont own old BMW's, and if you do, gain some mechanical knowledge I'd have thought.
kazbanz,
May 24, 7:21am
Hey tam-in that specific situation I'd replace the hose and put one of the quality sealant products in the radiator. Given the motor is toast anyway at least that makes the car drivable.
kazbanz,
May 24, 7:51am
with a 20 year old Odyssey you just don't know. if the hose has just torn away from the radiator or block I'd be tempted to clean it up and stretch it to fit back on and refill the radiator. NOT as the fix but to help diagnosis. Then you can carry out a TK and leakdown test to establish what is actually needed or if its time to call it a day. THEN if warranted replace the hose.
tamarillo,
May 24, 9:06am
thanks Kaz, did try but all the signs were there so actually got decent price for her from local BMW wrecker. All for one damn hose!
tamarillo,
May 24, 9:12am
I’m sorry but this rubbish grates me wrong way. It’s a damn hose that went, happens on any car! Lots of jappers with blown head gaskets due to same thing. As for idiot who tried to help him by topping up windscreen. words fail me. I maintain it as he lives here and had done belts as precautionary work and of course wish that for the sake of a $35 hose I’d done that but it looked fine. Split was underneath so maybe I missed signs of aging. Until this it had served a new driver doing delivery easy for a year bloody well. Oh and he learnt what oversteer is!
annie17111,
May 24, 10:24am
It happened to our 1996 commodore ute a couple of weeks ago. I don't know much about cars, but do know where the radiator does. Even my 9 yr old son knows where it is.
kazbanz,
May 24, 10:56am
In fairness the 318 did/does have that horrible little plastic elbow out back of the head. -Cost price $20 --actual cost about $3000 because it dumps all the water out on the ground
reb53,
May 24, 1:33pm
When the wife's new , ( to her), Fiesta was found to be losing water I did just that. The "leak fixer" is a well known brand. Barely a month later the top hose went in a big cloud of steam etc. I found it split, and ballooned out to the extent it was paper thin. Replaced it. Couple of months later the bottom one went, same thing. What a coincidence ! I strongly suspect that the "leak fixer" had softened the rubber as a way of swelling it and fixing small leaks. Drained and replaced all the coolant, and eventually discovered the leak was a tiny crack in the top of the radiator, ( at a mounting point so I suspect from an old accident). No further problems, but I'm now very wary about "wonder" sealants.
marte,
May 24, 2:10pm
Like light bulbs, radiators hoses all do the same ' mileage ', as soon as one blows, the other one will blow soon too. So best to replace the matching set all at once.
As for BMW, they would have replaced the whole lot based on time/distance & they would not have blown in the first place.
franc123,
May 24, 2:20pm
No point trying to explain technical realities to the stupid. I could preach all day about the need to replace every single plastic or rubber component in a >10 yo BMW cooling system but you can never get them to see reason.
djrandomguy,
May 24, 2:32pm
Yes same here, radiator worn out in 2003 Peugeot, replace it. Drive belt missed at service time snaps, replace it. Harmonic balancer pulley thing wears out. Mother in law "why do you own it if it's always breaking" Also Mother in law "spends $5k in a year on a '96 Carina and none of the repairs are done properly so it now has a trans' fault, rubbish pedal shaking brakes, a non closing boot if you pull the release, trouble starting, seatbelts that don't work and the occasional rattle from the manifold when cold. but it's a toyota so that's all good
tamarillo,
May 24, 2:32pm
yes! I replaced that when we got it! The earlier 318 engine had rep for head gaskets blowing easily but this one had that sorted.
tamarillo,
May 24, 2:34pm
Rest assured some of us listen. On my own e39 I put new radiator, hoses, water pump as soon as I got it! Parts were cheap. The sons 318 was a cheapie and didn’t justify it imo. Unsure if that makes you stupid now but I wouldn’t say so.
franc123,
May 24, 3:05pm
You either want reliable motoring or you don't. Theres no point coming on here whining about component failures because the car was self designated a 'cheapie' that 'didn't justify it'. Pump, radiator and hoses are only a few components, complete replacement means every single component in contact with the coolant that isn't metal.
franc123,
May 24, 3:08pm
Ive heard this whinge before, its not Toyotas fault that rubbish mechanics have been engaged who keep slapping WoF stickers on the thing despite it having obvious problems.
gazzat22,
May 25, 6:11am
My understanding is a radiator is pressurised by the radiator cap to lower the boiling point of its contents which is why when you remove the cap it releases the pressure and the contents boil.
alowishes,
May 25, 7:40am
The pressure created by the cap RAISES the boiling point, this allows an engine to run hotter before reaching boiling point. Google it up.
djrandomguy,
May 25, 7:43am
That's right, it's not Toyota's fault, it's her fault for continuing to patch it up and continuing to take it to same garage. Sat side by side our 206SW is safer, quicker, quieter, has more load space, handles better but uses slightly more fuel. Sometimes it needs some bits. She should upgrade to a newer Corolla as I keep telling her. The amount she's put into her machine is easily 4 x what we spend on our old Euro garbage.
gazzat22,
May 25, 8:25am
I dont need to"Google it Up" I know why a radiator is pressurised.May be I didnt spell it out clearly enough for some.! For every pound of pressure the boiling point is raised by a number of degrees.!
poppy62,
May 25, 12:33pm
May be you didn't read what you have wrote!
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