17 March, 2012

Burst radiator hose


A motorist at a red light signalled franticly to me yesterday. I wound down my window. He told me that my car was leaking water badly! I drove home immediately and checked under the hood. Sure enough, half the water was gone and the temperature gauge has crept up to maximum! To get to the hose connection, I had to remove the turbo charger which sits on top of the engine. It was easier than I had anticipated, using just a screw driver and a 10 mm wrench I removed the hose.

Last month the water pump failed. I sent my car to the AA at Pukete. It was fortunate that I told him not to replace the coolant (green liquid which cost $70). It would have leaked away yesterday! I intend to replace this hose at home in my garage and see how far I can go as a mechanic! Next month I will flush the radiator and replace the water with the proper coolant (anti freeze) ready for winter. My car has done over 240K. Every thing is starting to fail this year. Perhaps it is a good idea to trade it in for a newer model before I attempt to tow my boat to sail Lake Wanaka on the South Island. To date I have not found a suitable replacement for this Mitsubishi Challenger.
Mitsubishi Challenger

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3 comments:

  1. Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪Sat Mar 17, 02:32:00 pm 2012

    This is a story I will tell at my husband funeral. I have told on my comments but never blogged.

    About 30 years ago, 32 to be exact, we were young marrieds and had a ford escort. We were the only ones in the group with a car because I was working, and CO was a post grad student. We often took the car for a holiday and invited friends along.
    This one time, we were going sking. and had 2 friends. some where near Hamilton in a small road, CO noticed something wrong. We got out, he opened the bonnet. Woosh, a big smoke. I thought the car caught on fire.

    It was the radiator, water had leaked. We walked to the nearest farm house, it was evening. The farmer as dressed in his farming gear. He gave us water, and the best NZ kept secret for leaking radiator. A container of black pepper. He said put them inside the radiator, the black pepper would seal the holes.

    Nobody in Auckland city believed us and this black pepper secret, but we drove to Ruepehu, did our skiing, came back to Auckland before we got the garage to flush it out.

    Now, CO talks about always getting the car ready for any trip, I bring out the pepper story. Then he says Oh, that was 30 plus years ago, when he was a student.

    I was at AA yesterday, should have taken a photo to write a blog. May be I do a simulated photo.

    So when u get to know CO, and come to his funeral, you will get to hear this story, If I get too emotional, you can tell this story for me, as his cousin. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. David ChinSat Mar 17, 05:18:00 pm 2012

    Thank you so much for the tip about using black pepper to seal a radiator leak. I will file that away in my hard disk.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownTue Jan 28, 10:32:00 pm 2014

    I just discovered your blog and I'm very impressed.

    Radiators for Sale & Best Aftermarket
    Radiator

    ReplyDelete

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