Radiator hose blew off - temp normal but 🔺

JMD77 · Post by **JMD77** » 07 Apr 2025, 14:48

After so much damn work I finally drove this thing around and all is well until I smelled coolant. I did notice a red triangle but seems I thought that was always on from the airbag light. Anyways I was just a mile from home so I kept a steady eye on the temp gauge and kept going. Stayed fine right in the middle. Right when I got home it started inching up. Shut it off. No big deal? Open hood and upper hose is completely off at the radiator. So my question - was my temp gauge accurate even with a loss of coolant? I’m just thinking…crap if all the coolant went out would there be any fluid to even measure the temp of? I could be screwed.

Fan stayed on after shutting engine off. Engine did not put off what I thought was excessive heat. Wuestionjng tbe red triangle though. If gauge read normal temp why would there be a red triangle?

ignatz · Post by **ignatz** » 07 Apr 2025, 15:43

Low coolant light from the semi-clear coolant tank sends a triangle and a message to pull over and check the problem.

yanga001 · Post by **yanga001** » 07 Apr 2025, 18:26

Its hard to tell on these cars. In my experience on a p80, anything above center line caused a bit of a head gasket leak.

Now in terms of coolant, it is fully possible you still had coolant as the upper hose will still have coolant in the radiator and from the reservoir. It should not drain anything below that leg. Unfortunately, the temp gauge did start to go up which means she got a little too toasty.

The newer head gaskets may be a little bit more resilient. You wont know if there is any damage until you drive the car with the coolant refilled and adequately bled of air. From there you can check performance.

Post by **firstv70volvo** » 07 Apr 2025, 19:02

JMD77 wrote: ↑07 Apr 2025, 14:48 After so much damn work I finally drove this thing around and all is well until I smelled coolant. I did notice a red triangle but seems I thought that was always on from the airbag light. Anyways I was just a mile from home so I kept a steady eye on the temp gauge and kept going. Stayed fine right in the middle. Right when I got home it started inching up. Shut it off. No big deal? Open hood and upper hose is completely off at the radiator. So my question - was my temp gauge accurate even with a loss of coolant? I’m just thinking…crap if all the coolant went out would there be any fluid to even measure the temp of? I could be screwed.

Fan stayed on after shutting engine off. Engine did not put off what I thought was excessive heat. Wuestionjng tbe red triangle though. If gauge read normal temp why would there be a red triangle?

I had the top radiator hose blow off 2 or 3 times until I finally solved the problem. The top radiator neck is so short and some of the aftermarket radiators don't have good "lip" to hold the hose on securely, which means you may not get a wide, good quality radiator hose clamp to hold the hose on well. The wide hose clamps don't have room to clamp behind the ridge/lip and the hose pops off. I finally used a 45.5mm oetiker stepless clamp, which is narrower than most standard radiator hose clamps and a good fit for the Napa radiator hose installed in car, hose is 4.4mm thick. 45.5 - 8.8 = 36.7 is approx inlet diameter. the Oeitker clamps also have a constant clamping force over the temperature range. Never had any problems again with the top hose popping off. My engine survived fine and it got "above the center gauge" hot a couple of times. I mainly had this problem with one particular radiator I purchased at O'Rielly's.

JMD77 · Post by **JMD77** » 07 Apr 2025, 19:41

Thanks guys. I vacuum filled it with a kit and it was leak free for awhile. I think it’s the original radiator. The plastic inlet does have a small bite out of it but it appeared to me sturdy enough to keep using and plenty of area for the clamp. It’s a very high quality worm clamp. It did get barely above center line but we are talking 10-15 seconds before I parked and shut it off. I’m thinking at 20 years of age it’s time to maybe swap it. Maybe I spend too much money on the all aluminum one and just tighten the piss out of it since that aluminum I assume isn’t breaking from a worm clamp without trying. Or get the oetiker

dikidera · Post by **dikidera** » 07 Apr 2025, 23:10

The aftermarket radiators are bad. I had to modify one when the hose kept popping off. There is a metal sleeve that is in the original ones that is not in the aftermarket ones. Once I installed the metal sleeve, finally solved it...I think.

Post by **jonesg** » 08 Apr 2025, 04:38

i drove mine gently for several miles with the top hose off.
Other times idling with the needle at 75% hot due to failed cooling fan.

still good.

Post by **abscate** » 08 Apr 2025, 05:24

You will be ok after 10-15 seconds

I can send you the oetikers ftom my bag of 50 I ordered some time ago, send me sizes of the bump on the radiator flange

Post by **volvolugnut** » 08 Apr 2025, 08:33

Best test is to clamp the hose good and refill with coolant. Monitor level and color of coolant and oil for assurance of no negative impacts.
You might get a test for exhaust gas in the coolant if you worry.
volvolugnut

JMD77 · Post by **JMD77** » 08 Apr 2025, 09:08

abscate wrote: ↑08 Apr 2025, 05:24 You will be ok after 10-15 seconds

I can send you the oetikers ftom my bag of 50 I ordered some time ago, send me sizes of the bump on the radiator flange

Appreciate that. Going to consider a new radiator given the inlet is a bit chipped off. Radiator is likely original. 81k miles but 20 years. Considering the all metal do88 model I see. Is it worth it? I don’t know. From the perspective of I don’t want to worry about hoses falling off or clamping too tight so as to damage plastic inlets, maybe.