Re: Cavalier radiator hose leak

Or it could be the radiator cap valves dead.

It could be that the hose has delaminated internally.

Hoses are made of 3 parts - an inner tube, a fabric braided covering and an outer tube; the whole thing is then vulcanised together using heat and pressure. When exposed to heat from the engine in time the inner can perish, letting water seep through until it contacts the fabric braid - which then acts like a wick and transmits the water along to the ends of the hose where it comes out and makes you think it's the joint itself thats leaking!

Doubt if that's the problem - that would mean both the old hose and the new hose were suffering from the same fault.

I'm tempted to try refitting the old hose - it looks slightly thicker material than the new one. Maybe a new hose clip might help.

I'm still wondering if there is a crack in the outlet pipe that I just can't see.

Found the problem at last!

I discovered that if I squeezed the hose I could see tiny bubbles coming from a pin size hole right where the outlet pipe joins the main body of the radiator.

I put some araldite over the area as a temporary measure and it seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately the araldite has come loose after a couple of days and the leak has returned. Maybe the surface was not completely dry. I'm trying a second attempt tonight in the hope that it will last until I can get a new radiator.

The message from snipped-for-privacy@bkeen.freeserve.co.uk (briank) contains these words:

What's the radiator made of at that point?