Blown heater hose
03-27-09, 09:51 PM
#1
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Blown heater hose
I have an 87 N/A. So I blew my heater hose and finally got it replaced and everything. My question though is how come my stock temp gauge now sits roughly at half or a little lower after this happened? I did my best to bleed the sucker but maybe I didn't do it thoroughly enough. Would that cause the needle to be higher or is it really that inaccurate?
03-28-09, 01:22 AM
#2
You're probably actually overheating. I've never seen bubbles affect the gauge.
Blowing a heater hose can cause engine damage if enough water sprayed out. This is especially true for the driver-side hose since it connects directly to the rear iron. The original engine in my TII met its end when this hose blew apart on the freeway, and the hot spot cracked the water jacket. The engine would run, but it had bubbles in the coolant and would overheat after a few minutes of driving.
Do some checking for these kind of symptoms. When cold, remove the radiator cap w/ the engine idling and look for bubbles.
Watch the overall coolant level too. If you're losing coolant, and you have no external leaks, it's leaking into the combustion chamber(s).
On the S4 gauge, ~1/4 of the way up is about standard operating temp, so if the engine is not under heavy load, and it's not excessively hot outside, anything around the half-way mark or higher could indicate a problem.
Blowing a heater hose can cause engine damage if enough water sprayed out. This is especially true for the driver-side hose since it connects directly to the rear iron. The original engine in my TII met its end when this hose blew apart on the freeway, and the hot spot cracked the water jacket. The engine would run, but it had bubbles in the coolant and would overheat after a few minutes of driving.
Do some checking for these kind of symptoms. When cold, remove the radiator cap w/ the engine idling and look for bubbles.
Watch the overall coolant level too. If you're losing coolant, and you have no external leaks, it's leaking into the combustion chamber(s).
On the S4 gauge, ~1/4 of the way up is about standard operating temp, so if the engine is not under heavy load, and it's not excessively hot outside, anything around the half-way mark or higher could indicate a problem.
03-30-09, 12:30 AM
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Ok I guess I was a little blind and it was actually at 1/3 not half. I ran it cold with the cap off until my car was completely warmed up and it would have like 1 bubble come up about every minute-ish. It didn't bubble constantly like how I've heard of others with blown coolant seal. I also revved a little to see if the coolant would go down and it did (heard that was normal). It took a little while for the upper rad hose to get warm though. Could the thermostat be the culprit?
03-30-09, 04:01 AM
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I thought 1/4th was normal but I guess I'll take your word for it. Any reason why my gauge would be reading higher though? Just wanted to know out of curiosity.
