Monday I flushed the cooling system in the 82 Trekker, put new upper and lower radiator hoses on it, a new thermostat / gasket and a full system flush. Well, this evening I took it out, drove about 8 miles to a local gas station and filled it up... When I stopped at a highway crossing I smelled coolant and thought, oh ........The temp guage was good, slightly left of the middle so I drove it home...I pulled it in the garage this evening and sure enough, shes leakin!!!!!! The old radiator cap, leaking... the old heater hoses, leaking!! I guess with the new 180d thermostat its running at proper temp and the old heater hoses dont like it! I really wish the radiator had a drain valve on it...Im going to drain it again and replace ALL of the cooling system hoses after tonight... I think I need the " pipe to engine " large hose and the rest are just "heater" hoses, along with a set of all new clamps. In the back of my mind I knew I should have just torn it down and replaced all of the hoses but looking at them and feeling them they were pliable.. Lesson learned, a 28 year old truck thats not really been ran in a few years probably needs all new hoses... At least I made it home and dindt need to get it towed!

 

Yep, I blew a heater hose on a road trip a couple weeks back. That led to many other problems as well. By the time I got back, my radiator was leaking like nuts. I replaced it (mine does have a drain valve).

Now it's heating up slightly, but only on the interstate. Not sure what it is, but I hate cooling systems. Once one thing goes, it's like you gotta replace it all.

 

been there, done that!

Al

 

My father was a mechanic for almost 40 years and that's one of the first things he taught me. He always said if you have an older vehicle and you don't want to or aren't ready to replace every hose in the cooling system and possibly even the radiator, heater core, water pump, etc. then DO NOT "flush" the system, just drain it and refill it with new AF and clean water.

 

Good call, I ran a bottle of cooling system cleaner through it with strait water for about an hour then let it sit over night. I flushed it with the hose until it ran clear and put it all back together with fresh 50/50 antifreeze... Im going to drain it this weekend and start swapping the heater hoses, I really really hope the heater core and rad are OK, the thought of swapping the core erks the crap out of me!

 

Yep! Happened to me too. Replaced a leaking RADIATOR CAP and ended up with all new hoses.

 

i disagree. i didn't flush the system, simply drained and refilled with new hoses and then the crud finally kicked up on a road trip. killed my radiator and almost took the head gasket with it.

FLUSH.

Al

 

The whole idea is to maintain it properly with regular coolant changes and prevent the crud from building up in the first place. And I didn't say "don't flush"...I said "don't flush unless/until your are prepared to replace everything".

 

sure, until you pick up a rig that's been sitting a while. not much you can do to prevent that!

Al