radiator hoses

If there's any damage it's likely to have been a warping of the head (is it aluminium? they don't like getting hot).

But hopefully there's none. Who knows? You'll find out when you replace the hose, fill it up with coolant and run it for a few days.

Rob Graham

a wander round a breakers might bring something similar to light, but a new one from a dealer is the best way. Engine damage might not show at all or might show up in a few months, cross your fingers. Question is why did the hose go? hose failure is rare these days and it may be caused by excessively high pressure in the system (due to head gasket failure)

I'd noticed that with my 10 year old plus BMW which has never had a hose fail. Unlike my SD1 Rover which has had several failures (top and bottom - but others may be originals) - even when it was less than 10 years old. Is it down to better hose materials/design - and would replacements incorporate these? Assuming they are new ones rather than NOS.

It's a cast iron head by the looks of it - managed to do a temporary lash-up with a bit of plastic waste pipe, and a new one should be at the dealers' tomorrow for me :-}

Bit of an odd one though, at the same time, my indicators have started to work intermittently (if at all), so the next question is "where the hell's the flasher unit?" :-}

I suspect it's under the dash somewhere in the vicinity of the steering wheel, but i'm not sure - I can hear a contactor / relay pulling in, just doesn't go on to flash - it affects left / right indicators and hazards.

Yeah, got one on order thanks, it's not worth arsing around for £18 !

I can live with that, it's served me well, and this is only the second time it's let me down - and one of those times was my fault for not changing the battery when I knew it was knackered !

I thought that myself, but can't see any sign of water in the oil or vice-versa yet, and the emulsion near the oil cap hasn't got drastically worse :-}

It's getting on a bit now, it's 11 years old, so i'd expect rubber to start perishing at that sort of age - I had a leak from the bottom hose a while ago that seemed to resolve itself with radweld :-}

JOOI, what's the temperature rating of that plastic waste pipe? At the pressure you might find in, say, a car's engine cooling system?

Andrew

Not a sodding clue, but my dad does a bit of work for someone in a motor factors, and asked him about getting a hose in ("main dealer jobbie") - it was him who suggested it as a temp lash-up, so i'm guessing he's had a fair bit of experience using it !

There's only about 1cm of "bare" pipe visible, which was enough to allow us to cut off the split bit of hose and reconnect.

My only worry now is I didn't think it was going to be cold enough tonight to freeze, so didn't bung any antifreeze in it until we do it properly tomorrow...

It makes you realise how much progress has been made in the last 40 years or so. At one time people were branded as irresponsible if they ventured onto the M1 without a spare fan belt and a top hose!

Yep, had that conversation earlier with my dad - used to be remarkable if a car did 60k without three refurbed engines etc.

I'd say that unusual. 40-60k was more common before a re-bore, etc. My father had a new 803cc Minor. That wore out its engine near enough at the same time as the first set of tyres.

Might be affected by a better balanced engine stressing the hoses less. Particularly hoses that go from the wobbly engine to parts fixed to the bodywork (like a rad). Is the Beemer a straight 6?

The "rubber" has changed somewhat in the last 30 years though, & the reinforcing isn't made of cotton anymore.

I asked in my local factors, when I thought I'd do a precautionary change having had one split in the past and he replied, ' Oh we don't get asked for those anymore' whereas historically, they would have had them on the shelf.

Andy C

And of course we never hear of modern cars developing hugely expensive faults after modest mileages, do we?

Only very rarely.

I've known modern cars that have been run for 50K without ever having an oil change.

Things like BMC A series engines would often need at least a valve gear overhaul long before that time, and that would be with oil changes every

I can still remember reading with some incredulity the letters page of a motoring magazine in the '60s of an owner claiming to have got an engine to 100k. Now, one the *didn't* last that long would be more newsworthy.

Chris

Running unleaded on a 'leaded' head? BY the time the Marina had arrived 100,000 miles on an engine wasn't unusual.

Apart from the usual slight shimmy at idle a V-8 is pretty smooth. Certainly more so than the average engine these days.

Would have been unbelievable on a 1.3 Marina!

Chris