Noticed coolant on my garage floor many hours after driving 15 miles in 1973 450SL. I had looked under car both immediately after and an hour after drive and did not see coolant at that time. Car stayed at 175 Fahrenheit during drive.
Under the hood found that lower/bottom radiator hose was wet both at water pump and at radiator. Pictures attached.
This car is getting back on the road for the first time in 10+ years. I assume in that time the rubber got old/dry and lost its pliability. Today rubber got hot and expanded, but when it cooled off it couldn’t hold seal; thus, the leak.
Does that theory make sense or might something else be going on?
Lower/bottom hose is only one showing leakage, but seems like replacing all of overflow breather hose, upper radiator hose, hose from expansion tank to radiator, and lower/bottom hose makes sense given their age. I'm thinking that trying to fix this by just tightening the hose clams on the leaking hose is not the right approach.
I’m finishing up a list of these 4 hoses and their respective clamps using EPC. I checked hose between water pump and intake manifold. I did not see any signs of leaking and hose looked much newer than other hoses.
I’m not expecting any surprises with the replacement of the four hoses mentioned above. I know I need to be careful not to overtighten clamps attaching hoses to radiator because some people have had trouble with breaking/cracking radiator attachment points. Overall seems like easy job unless I’m missing something.
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![2640603]()
Under the hood found that lower/bottom radiator hose was wet both at water pump and at radiator. Pictures attached.
This car is getting back on the road for the first time in 10+ years. I assume in that time the rubber got old/dry and lost its pliability. Today rubber got hot and expanded, but when it cooled off it couldn’t hold seal; thus, the leak.
Does that theory make sense or might something else be going on?
Lower/bottom hose is only one showing leakage, but seems like replacing all of overflow breather hose, upper radiator hose, hose from expansion tank to radiator, and lower/bottom hose makes sense given their age. I'm thinking that trying to fix this by just tightening the hose clams on the leaking hose is not the right approach.
I’m finishing up a list of these 4 hoses and their respective clamps using EPC. I checked hose between water pump and intake manifold. I did not see any signs of leaking and hose looked much newer than other hoses.
I’m not expecting any surprises with the replacement of the four hoses mentioned above. I know I need to be careful not to overtighten clamps attaching hoses to radiator because some people have had trouble with breaking/cracking radiator attachment points. Overall seems like easy job unless I’m missing something.
