cliffhoss
LVC Member
First off i'd like to say thanks to everyone who contributes because this website has helped me so much in the past 5-6 years. I've done a ton of work on my car myself and it's all thanks to the information on this website.
So about a month ago after a nice 10 mile drive, I was about a mile from home and i floored it just for that adrenaline rush i guess. Anyway i noticed smoke in my rear view mirror so i cut the engine and coasted home. I opened the hood and discovered the upper radiator hose had popped off where i connects up top close to the thermostat housing. I figured the hose just worked its way off over time so i just re-fastened, filled up the fluid and bled the air out and thought it was fixed as I drove it a couple times in the next weeks with no problem.
Two weeks later I was just pulling into a restaurant parking lot and the hose blew off again at the exact same place. So i walked to Walmart, got coolant and a pliers and repeated the process again. After this I suspected the clamp was just weak so I replaced it with a new stainless hose clamp and made it plenty tight.
About 2 weeks later I was pulling into another parking lot and I saw smoke again. I blew a hose off again but this time it was the lower radiator hose where it connects to the thermostat housing. So i fixed it in the parking lot again and drove her home.
I was suspicious of the head gasket and the overflow cap so i got one of those pressure test kits. The system held 17 psi for 10 minutes (cap says 16). I tested the cap and it seemed to release any pressure over 15 psi. I put the pressure tester on the overflow tank at 15 psi and idled the car at home (I don't know if this is recommended or not). I was watching the pressure which stayed right around 15 psi when a hose popped off again. This time the engine was only about halfway up to normal operating temp.
At this point i'm completely lost. There's obviously more pressure there than there should be since it blew hoses off at 2 different places, but the cap seems to be releasing pressure correctly.
I've tried finding threads about this but haven't found much of anything.
Anybody have any ideas what could be causing the excess pressure?
So about a month ago after a nice 10 mile drive, I was about a mile from home and i floored it just for that adrenaline rush i guess. Anyway i noticed smoke in my rear view mirror so i cut the engine and coasted home. I opened the hood and discovered the upper radiator hose had popped off where i connects up top close to the thermostat housing. I figured the hose just worked its way off over time so i just re-fastened, filled up the fluid and bled the air out and thought it was fixed as I drove it a couple times in the next weeks with no problem.
Two weeks later I was just pulling into a restaurant parking lot and the hose blew off again at the exact same place. So i walked to Walmart, got coolant and a pliers and repeated the process again. After this I suspected the clamp was just weak so I replaced it with a new stainless hose clamp and made it plenty tight.
About 2 weeks later I was pulling into another parking lot and I saw smoke again. I blew a hose off again but this time it was the lower radiator hose where it connects to the thermostat housing. So i fixed it in the parking lot again and drove her home.
I was suspicious of the head gasket and the overflow cap so i got one of those pressure test kits. The system held 17 psi for 10 minutes (cap says 16). I tested the cap and it seemed to release any pressure over 15 psi. I put the pressure tester on the overflow tank at 15 psi and idled the car at home (I don't know if this is recommended or not). I was watching the pressure which stayed right around 15 psi when a hose popped off again. This time the engine was only about halfway up to normal operating temp.
At this point i'm completely lost. There's obviously more pressure there than there should be since it blew hoses off at 2 different places, but the cap seems to be releasing pressure correctly.
I've tried finding threads about this but haven't found much of anything.
Anybody have any ideas what could be causing the excess pressure?
^)