This is just a quick question to some of the more knowledgeable rotorheads out there. I was literally pulling into my garage after about ten minutes of non-spirited driving, when suddenly I heard a "pop" and white smoke began to billow out from under my hood. My girlfriend freaked out and I immediately turned the car off. After letting it smoke for a moment, I opened the hood to see that the upper coolant hose, (which is one I just replaced a month ago when I installed my Koyo) had burst from the engine, and that connector didn't look too well.




That part looks cracked and whatnot, but honestly I can't remember if it looked like that before. There was no damage from flying chunks of metal anywhere.

Everything in the engine bay is soaked in coolant. So, before I make a trip to Autozone, will it be okay to just buy more coolant try to get the hose on there tighter this time? Like I said, this is about a month after a Koyo install, so they might not have been on there tightly enough...

Could there be more damage than what's seen? I'm pretty sure all the smoke was just the coolant evaporating instantly against the hot engine bay, but I'd like to be positive.



The resulting pool after I let the drive slide back a bit.

 

You are PROBABLY fine... but you'll need a new one of those plastic elbows.. also.. take it off and make sure there aren't any chunks laying on the thermostat. However.... thats the return, so if chunks DID move.. it would have been toward the radiator... carefully remove the radiator hose, check for chunks... but.. you SHOULD be okay. A flush of the system wouldn't hurt.

 

if you turned it off right away, your ok. mine did it after being turned off for like 10 mins

 

first thing that pops into my dome:

you might have overtightened your clamp and damaged the neck (it looks like the thermostat neck). which then fell apart under th eheat and pressure.

Second thing:

where did the chunks that broke off go?? into your motor or radiator? clogging your coolant passages ( i can't recall if the coolant flows FROM the neck to the ratiator or from the radiator to the neck)?

 

BTW if you're going to waste the 106 bux from MAzda then you might as well spend another 20 for the aluminum pice from Mazdatrix.

 

I don't think that any chunks came off.

I think it's always looked like that... but even still. I'll check for any chucks in the hose and everything, but I need to drive this car before I'll be able to replace the neck.

But. For now I'm just going to go buy some more coolant, maybe a different type of clamp. Unfortunately I'll have to drive the girlfriend's Kia.

 

Is that the plastic outlet neck above the thermostat?

If so, how could you not notice if that's the way it was before?

At any rate, it sure doesn't appear to be in good enough condition to keep using.

 

I might have a spare in my pile-of-**** that I might be able to send your way for a couple bucks if ya want. PM me if interested.

 

Yeah. I just bit the bullet and I'm gonna have to wait to drive it until I get another one.