Coolant hoses - ever had one fail?

[Ed Kellock]

On my urq I had the lower rad/aux rad to thermostat housing fail at 4:30 in
the morning in mid 50 degree temps on the way to the Pikes Peak Hillclimb.

Just days ago I discovered a small leak from a cut caused by a too-tight
clamp on the engine end of the upper rad hose in my '91 Avant.

Both hoses are fairly typical except for the 3rd appendages that go to the
aux rad and turbo after-run coolant pump respectively.  Therefore not avail
locally and not cheap.

I was fortunate that a kind urq lister gave me a new urq hose and with the
Avant, 90 bux from Sunset Audi "20% over cost".  In the meantime on the
Avant I have trimmed both ends of the hose and fitted new wider clamps.
Also the fitting on the aluminum water gallery coming off the head was
fairly badly corroded and the last dolt who fitted the hose gooped it up
with clear silicone gasket cement before tightening down the clamp.  What a
mess.


Ed

On 6/29/06, Dave C <dconner at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Just curious ...
> I've seen virtually every cooling system component fail ... heater core,
> radiator, heater valve, expansion tank, but never a hose.  I know a few of
> the hoses on my cars are 20 years old including the little short ones
> associated with the transmission cooler on the type 44 with auto trans.
> Maybe I'm just lucky, but I don't want to push it.
>
> Has anyone ever seen an Audi cooling hose on one of these cars fail from
> old
> age?
>
> Dave C.
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