I gave my car a bit of a thrashing last night and it started to leak water from ghe bottom rad hose (think it my be a rusty clip) but when the car is hot the pipes are going rock hard like there pressurising. Recently started to have a stutter up the revs but it is definatly due plugs.

 

Is it blowing water out in to the expansion bottle? Could be the dreaded head gasket failure if it is.

 

If they were soft I would be worried (air), but hard pipes are normal in a pressurised system.

Tony

 

head gasket

 

As Tony says its normal for all the coolant pipes to be "hard" when the engine is hot, Id ignore the above comments about head gaskets, going by your profile you drive a MY98 car? if so it wouldnt be unusual for a rad hose or radiator to fail at that age.

 

as others have said its perfectly normal listen to others at your peril.

 

not looked propper but quick glance seemed to be the bottom rad pipe. Hasn't leeked a drop but it got a good thrashing yesterday. Let it run and it's not leaked on the spot. Temp has never moved past half way.

 

just to let everyone know it my head gasket just had it sniff tested