[s-cars] Mount Washington Auto Road Cooling System Test

[Jack Gagnon]

How to pressure test an AAN:


Yesterday I took a drive to the top of Mount Washington to do some last
minute skiing on the east snowfields with some friends.  While climbing the
8-mile road, the temp gage was rising to just past the 12 o-clock position
and there was a bit of a smell when I had to stop near the top to allow a
backhoe move a boulder out of the drainage ditch.  The oil temp almost made
it to the 130 mark, pretty hot in my experience.  When we got to the top I
saw some coolant dripping from beneath the car, not good.  I popped the hood
to find a nice spray pattern coming from the hose that goes to the
thermostat housing.  I slowly unscrewed the reservior cap to release the
pressure and the spraying stopped.  While pondering what to do, I heard the
after run pump and fan kick in, I never hear it run before!  It turns out
that some cables and hoses in the vicinity of the hose had chaffed the hose
enough to create a thin spot.  We parked the car, went skiing, refilled the
reservior and drove down the mountain and to town without a hitch.

I stopped into the local NAPA to get more coolant, wrapped the hose with
duct tape and hose clamps and drove another 70 miles to Maine.  I will be
replacing the hose this week.

Just thought I would share my experience.

Jack