With the help of a friend, I recently replaced the heater hose, flange and flange gasket (paper) on the back of my BMW's M50 engine. Given this necessitated removal of the manifold, it wasn't exactly a "fun" repair. Here is a photo of the 24 year old, leaking heater hose: http://gdurl.com/mQPC
Anyway, we got it all back together again, bled the cooling system and things were fine for the first few drives. After several drives, I noticed there was a slight weep from the hose or the flange itself again. By a couple of drives later, it was leaking enough to drip on the ground...
Now, if this were a sealing issue on the water flange itself, that would've manifested straight away, I think. I've had plenty of issues with worm-drive hose clamps expanding after a few drives and beginning to seep - I'm just wondering if anyone else has had the issue?
I don't tighten things down as hard as I can (I could've, given this is a metal flange), but the hose was by no means loose.
Any suggestions? I've got another six hoses to replace shortly, all of which are far more accessible. However, I'd like to avoid this irritating phenomenon if I can!
Makes me wonder how mechanics can remove and reseat coolant hoses everyday without having things start seeping everywhere.
Anyway, we got it all back together again, bled the cooling system and things were fine for the first few drives. After several drives, I noticed there was a slight weep from the hose or the flange itself again. By a couple of drives later, it was leaking enough to drip on the ground...
Now, if this were a sealing issue on the water flange itself, that would've manifested straight away, I think. I've had plenty of issues with worm-drive hose clamps expanding after a few drives and beginning to seep - I'm just wondering if anyone else has had the issue?
I don't tighten things down as hard as I can (I could've, given this is a metal flange), but the hose was by no means loose.
Any suggestions? I've got another six hoses to replace shortly, all of which are far more accessible. However, I'd like to avoid this irritating phenomenon if I can!
Makes me wonder how mechanics can remove and reseat coolant hoses everyday without having things start seeping everywhere.