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

[audistuff@juno.com (Paul R Anderson)]

Alex,

Don't be so quick to blame an American for your radiator fitting coming
apart on you.  It has happened to many of us.  Some of us were not
lucky enough to have the hood all the way opened to see the hose
coming off.  I got a pretty good burn when mine did the same.  Seems
to be a problem with the material that the tank is made of.  There were
some
posts referring to repair procedures on these (although replacement is
best).
Check the archives.


Paul Anderson, Cheyenne, WY  Private email:AndersonPaul@juno.com


On Thu, 20 Nov 1997 10:46:06 -0600 Alex Kowalski (audial@aol.com) (Law
Guest Account) <lawguest@wppost.depaul.edu> writes:
>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
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