Odd Noise and colapsed coolant hose

[aliciaford]

Now that we replaced the fuel pump yesterday, we took it for a test drive and seemed fine. Today, I kept hearing an odd noise, kinda like a power steering type of noise. Then hubby noticed the hose to the left side of the radiator is colapsed and he suspects the coolant is only circulating in the engine.... Where should we start? It had a new water pump and theromstat maybe a year ago. Cash for clunker rebate is sounding pretty good right now...

[elwesso]

sounds like you need to add coolant

[qship96]

replace weakened old worn out hose and evaluate from there

[goody90q45]

Did you add coolant through both fill necks? There's a second "radiator" hidden under the center plastic shield that may need filling.

How's the $100 94Q treating you?

[aliciaford]

We will check out the coolant level, but I could swear that the coolant is not circulating properly.

The $100 Q is a dream come true, its everything the 90 is not. The ride is so much better! I have some maintenance to do though, I need to flush the coolant system and the transmission and replace the belts... just to be safe.

[aliciaford]

Ok. we have removed the cover over the radiator. The coolant is not circulating properly. The coolant closest to the front of the car is cold, and the coolant at the further away cap is hot. We let the car come up to temperature but something is definately wrong. Any easy way to figure out if its the thermostat or the water pump? Sounds like the water pump is dry to me... Only cuz I want to put her out for sale and she looks so pretty!!

[StarPD]

Ok. we have removed the cover over the radiator. The coolant is not circulating properly. The coolant closest to the front of the car is cold, and the coolant at the further away cap is hot. We let the car come up to temperature but something is definately wrong. Any easy way to figure out if its the thermostat or the water pump? Sounds like the water pump is dry to me... Only cuz I want to put her out for sale and she looks so pretty!!

Not familiar with the exact cooling system on your vehicls, but a collapsed hose usually indicates that it is a sucton hose. Most hoses on the suction side have a coil spring inside that keeps them from collapsing under suction. I'd suggest that you check and see if the large anti-collapse coil spring is not missing from inside of the hose.

I once replaced all hoses on a Corvette. Not knowing that there was a large anti-collapse coil spring inside the original hose, I just put a new one on which naturally didn't have the spring. The car kept overheating, and I found the suction hose collapsed. Inspection of the original hose revealed the anti-collapse spring, and inspection of the new replacement hose revealed that it had none. Transferred the spring into the new hose and "VOILA!", no hose collapse and cooling returned to normal.

This may not be your problem, but it's worth investigating.

Let us know.

Good luck