Top and bottom radiator hose sucking in on themselve

[eliurquhart]

I think I opened a box of worms when I popped the hood on my Safari this week.

One more issue I just found was that the top and bottom radiator hose is suckin in on themselves once the engine cools and I have to remove the radiator cap and they expand back to their right size, I got a new cap in the hope the seal was forked but it's still doing it, the hose looks new and properly fitted, is it just a weak hose or is something sinister lurking, I cant see any leaks as of yet as its night but the water level has stayed the same. Any ideas.
again huge thanks

[Ade]

Could there be something blocking in between the radiator neck and the reservoir tank..??? Preventing the system to vac in the coolant as the engine cools down...

[97_gq_lwb]

I'd say buggered hoses if all else is ok they tend to get soft i had a top hose that would swell up it had never been used and was in the back of the car when i got it as a spare replaced it with a new hose and it is fine now.

[honest271]

Goodaye make sure you check the hose from the overflow tank sometimes if you remove the lid and put back on it can kink over thus preventing it sucking coolant out of reservior as it cools down, it happened to me.
cheers honest

[threedogs]

Dependinding on what brand the hoses are, sometimes the spring is removed .

[eliurquhart]

these dont have a spring in them thats why I thought it might be weak hoses
silicone or normal with spring, any comments?

[the ferret]

these dont have a spring in them thats why I thought it might be weak hoses
silicone or normal with spring, any comments?

Mate, you could try a spring from another hose and see if that solves the problem.
Sometimes the el cheapo hoses do this, but everything else sounds ok.
Cheers, the ferret.

[eliurquhart]

Cheers all, Ade was the winner, the hose was clogged through to the reserve tank and the cap was blocked with absolutely no flow going through that, got some bonzi wire with a cloth attached through at one end and threaded it through with degreaser on it, cleaned it out like a charm. So will see if that fixes it, also think that with all that gunk maybe theres more but the radiator fluid is clean as so ill wait and see before I flush it.
Nice work Ade, chur bro

[eliurquhart]

I cut any hoses used for sucking on an angle so that this doesn't happen. Good info though definitely.

[Ade]

Mmmm..hope that was the real culprit Eli. Better still check your cooling system thoroughly..

[eliurquhart]

Got any examples of what to look for?? Is there a chance it could be a problem with the head?...would that explain the fluctuation in the oil pressure or is that also a problem with the injectors maybe?

[Ade]

There's a thread here about maintenance for the trol started by Tony, I think cooling system are much covered there. As for my concern, coolant ratio, thermostat, rad cap, thermostat by pass seat, hoses, water pump, reservoir tank and hose, heater coil and hoses..???

As for the head problem, I've been there. Cracked all my pre combustion chambers badly beyond repair. There are proper methods to test head problem but what I did was took off the coolant overflow hose from the reservoir tank and put into plastic bottle filled with water. Start the engine and give it some rev, see if any bubbles coming out. Bingo...I got loads of them!
You can also tell this if your coolant in the reservoir tank does not sucked in back to the system (down to min level in the tank) when the engine cools down overnight..and when you open the rad cap (cool engine) the coolant level are down and not right to the top of the radiator neck where the cap seat.

[eliurquhart]

Hey Ade, just got it all back together and it is running really nicely, even the idle seems better, I checked for bubbles and no worries there, when I took the cap out to the resi tank and blew it no air got through at all so cleaned it hard and got it to a new state I believe and hope that was the issue but will see how it goes, the usual tell tales for a head gasket arent there, so I hope that this is it for now. Do the thrust bearing next and maybe a new clutch then look at extractors and 2 1/2 " exhaust and try to pull off the thread for the 4" stainless Snorkle!!

[Ade]

Good one mate. I believe this engine is as robust as long as all the basic maintenance for it are taken care off.

I replaced my old engine with a standard TD42 and now all are running sweet, no worries about blewing it up again. Really hope to see hundreds of thousand of kilometres with this. I think the old one had an overdosed fuelling and lack of proper tune though there are no black smoke and the egt was within the limit. The small pre com chamber just can't handle it.

For comparison, my oil pressure do fluctuate in between the line bellow the 4 mark to 4 depending on the engine state (cold or warm) and the revs. I used Mobil Delvac MX 15w-40. Dont think we should worry about it mate..

[eliurquhart]

Well stoked to say the least, got up this morning and no sucked in radiator hose!!!
After the clean out of the pipes and cap on the reserve tank it seems to have done the trick, has taken fluid back in on cooling and working like a normal system. Here's hoping it will stay that way for years to come. Thanks again for all the advice, mush appreciated and cheaper than the local car Dr's!!