Re:a little help if you have the time..

[Alex Kowalski (audial@aol.com) (Law Guest Account) <lawguest@wppost.depaul.edu>]

After I bought the car, huh?

Well, here's my overlooked problem:

Upper plastic radiator inlet, radiator expansion tank.

The upper radiator hose on the '86 5KCSTQ looked & felt clean and solid,
the system held pressure, I had no problems on the test drive.  

After I bought the it, I was standing in front of the car with the hood open,
listening to the engine purr, and I notice that the upper rad. hose is
sloooooowly backing off of the inlet while I'm standing there.  I run for
cover and a couple of seconds later... KABLOOEY! 

Scalding hot coolant _everywhere_.  If I hadn't been looking, I'd have
been doused.

The recoil of the hose wiped out the duct to the injector cooling fan and
also snapped the little line to the Aux. coolant pump neatly where it joins
the main hose.

I took a look at the radiator inlet, and it had obviously been "repaired" in
the past. It was about 5/8" shorter than it was supposed to be and no
longer had the shoulder.  It had been sawed off.  Probably it had cracked
as the result of some overzealous mechanic not taking the time to
carefully break the hose free before yanking it off.  Then whoever did it
just put the hose back on and overtightened the clamp, betting that this
would be enough.  It isn't.

Don't stand over the radiator while it's hot until you _know_ that the
hoses, inlet, clamps, etc. are in good shape.

Also, I failed in my excitement to register that the radiator expansion tank
was in the process of cracking through in the usual place, right up front.

Best Wishes,
Alex
'86 5KCSTQ