colapsed radiator hose

[drg]

I have a 2003 saturn Ion . I was looking at the cooling system today to do a colant change and I noticed the upper hose was partialy colapsed. The car was cold and had not been driven all day. The temp was about 30 degrees out. It has 93000 miles on it and has not had any coolant problems so far , I have owed it since it was new.Heat and temp seem normal. It has the pressurized surge tank on it, and its up to the proper level.
What do you guys think, should I just replace the hose figuring its just weak or old or is there something else I should be looking at? Thanks Darris

 

[EricF]

sounds more like the radiator cap isn't holding.. time to replace it.

 

[TrentMiller]

+1 ericf

Collapsed rad hose is 100% coolant cap/plugged cap breather hose.

I would replace suspect hose, it has most likely happened repeatedly, weakening the hose. In most repair manuals (heavy equipment/otr trucks) that i have read, they always recommend replacing the collapsed hose at the same time as the radiator cap/vent tube.

keep on trucking!

 

[mechanicx]

I think it is probably just the hose. If you take the cap off the reservoir did the coolant drop any or the hose pop back? I'd replace hose and refill coolant and bleed the air, and go from there.

 

[drg]

When I took the cap off the hose did not pop back out. Even when I squeezed the hose it did not pop back out.

 

[onion]

I'm in the camp that says to replace the hose and the cap. The reasons are obvious. And if they ain't obvious, then I ain't gonna bother.

 

[drg]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Iam going with the hose and the cap. thanks again , Darris

 

[Drew99GT]

I've had this happen to two vehicles when the radiator cap gasket stuck on the filler neck. When the system cools down, a vacumm will be created in the system that usually just pulls in fluid from the overflow, but when the cap sticks, the only point that can change the volume of the system from the vacuum is the radiator hoses, so they will collapse. As soon as you break the cap free, the hose will go "bloop" and fill right back up with coolant.

Normally when an upper hose starts going bad, it will balloon out and then burst.

 

[drg]

Just thought I would check back and let everyone know that I replaced the hose and the cap and no more problems. Thanks again Darris