POOKY247

can anyone tell me if they think there is something wrong with my 02 wrx, and what it could be?

i looked under the bonnet today and after a short drive the top radiator hose bulges ALOT! but as the car cools down it gets smaller again.

ive taken some pics on my phone but the pipe was up to 10mm bigger before i took them.

im a bit worried as there is a bit of coolent ontop of the radiator by the connection where it has obviously leaked a bit. also if the pipe starts to expand anymore, it will probably touch the alternator wheel which obviously is not good.

POOKY247

POOKY247

weemac2000

looks like its gonna explode!!!
assuming your temps are ok, can only be a worn out hose. best get a new one, shouldnt cost that much and its an easy job to fit

POOKY247

yea temp stays normal on dash gauge. surely it shouldnt need replacing on a 4 year old car? or is it a known weak point of the coolent system?

ultraviolate

The hoses are reinforced and it seems like the braiding has failed. The braiding provides the strength of the hose and the rubber obviously provides the seal. Either one cannot do the others job so get it changed asap or it will get very messy and potentialy very expensive.

POOKY247

thanks for your help everyone.

vessy

I'm not too sure if the setup is similar to the classics (someone will confirm) in that you have a header tank and expansion bottle in the wing. Might be worth replacing the cap on the header tank, may not be letting water past into the expansion bottle, which it should do due to the thermal expansion. This could have caused the pipe to stretch and damage. Check your expansion level cold and again when warm, it should have risen up a little.

Bob Rawle

The water temp gauge won't move untill the coolant is close to 106 degrees C (normal running about 88 deg C) so the fact that it "looks" ok can be misleading, ecu reads coolant temp directly and a dealer etc can plug in his Select Monitor to check.

Hose looks like it needs replacing, as mentioned the construction can fail, do it before it bursts as at that it won't last too long

bestr egards

bob

360ste

iTrader: (1)

Dress up your engine bay with some Samco.