The long ride home (coolant whoas)

[22229stingray81]

While on the highway today, my upper radiator hose came loose, spraying my poor Corvette's blood all over the road, the side of her, and the windshield. The scene was straight out of a movie. The coolant hitting my exhaust and hot engine created an immediate overwhelming smoke cloud. With zero visibility I managed to pull over without hitting anything. I popped the hood, and there is the culprit, sitting on the control arm, vomiting its green contents all over the engine bay. I get my mini-toolkit out of the back, and I reattach the hose. Then I call about 5 friends, all but one not answering. I prefer not to have it towed because I do not have a mechanic down here, and I really do not trust the dealers, especially on my classic Corvette. My buddy leaves work, and rushes over with a gallon of coolant. With the engine thoroughly cooled, I manage to just budge the rad. cap off, and see that there is as expected, no coolant inside. I think back to all the posts I've read here at the CAC on how to fill up a radiator, and try to remember the correct procedure. I fill her up, start the engine, let the level recede, fill her up again, and repeat. She finally stopped taking coolant, and I replaced the cap, and let her idle. The temp. seemed to be stable and quite cool. Eureka it worked!! I set out very slowly on the highway for the very scary, long, slow trip home. Thanks to everyone here, I made it home safely, with no engine damage, and coolant levels normal. I never thought in a million years I'd have to do that, but thanks to this great community, I made it home safely, and didn't have to trust my baby in the hands of a stranger.

I'm going to take her into a mechanic next week (after I research a little more) and have everything checked out, and the heater hose replaced. Is there anything else I should to her in the meantime? I obviously won't drive her, but the mechanic I have in mind is 12-15 miles away; think she'll make it?? Should I drain some coolant and add water tomorrow? Anything else you can think of that I didn't do?

Thanks Rob and everyone for putting together this wonderful community and knowledgebase. Here is one Supporting Member that definitely got his money's worth!

Time for a long, coolant-filled shower now, sorry for the long post!

-Tatortot

 

[Ezmunie]

Glad to hear you made it home safely. Those little tool kits can really be a life saver. If you are going to take her to get things checked out next week, all you probably need to do is make sure the coolant level is good, check for leaks, and drive her in. I don't think you should have any problems.

 

[81kix]

22229Stingray81, thanks for sharing you post.
Glad to here you both are going to be fine, very scary thing to have happen on the road.
Glad to here that the CAC was helpful in your situation.

 

[22229stingray81]

Thanks for the encouraging words. I just went out to look at her and everything seems to be okay. It's dark right now, but no more leaking. Tomorrow I'll try to take a look under her. All the coolant that sprayed out seemed to be brown, and I'm hoping it's just because it hit hot parts of the engine. It was not running anywhere near hot at the time, and my coolant was changed about two years ago. Anyone know why coolant would be brown??

-Tatortot

 

[Yoda]

Tatortot

I love a great story with a GOOD ending You've come a long ways these past 4 or 5 years young Jedi I'm proud of you and I'm sure Mike (Stingray6974) is too

The brown sounds like rust from the radiator. You might want to have the radiator flushed before putting the proper amount of Anti-freeze/Water back in. Also get that old anti-freeze OFF the paint as soon as possible and you might also consider cleaning it off the engine.. You can just hose it down carefully, and don't get the distributor wet or too much water around the carb but I'd get as much of that "Stuff" off as I could

You DONE GOOD Tator you done us proud

Bud

 

[22229stingray81]

Ahh good to hear from you Bud, I was hoping you'd post. I just went outside and talked to her for a while; we're going to make it through this! It's really difficult to work on her living in an apartment, even cleaning it is a task. Maybe I'll take her to a drive-thru car wash place. I know that is forbidden, but I have no other way of cleaning her down here (at college). At least the paint is already messed up so how much worse can it get?

I will have the mechanic (once I find one) do a full flush, and change both rad. hoses. I usually do my own oil changes, but since it's already in the shop I'll probably ask him to do one as well. I'll also ask him to look over everything else, and to let me know if he thinks anything else is wrong. Do you happen to know if coolant is corrosive? I read it is acidic somewhere.

For the record, I still smell like coolant.

-Tatortot

 

[22229stingray81]

Something else just occured to me. When I was looking in the rad. to see how full it was, I noticed some white specs, which I'm assuming is calcium buildup. It was not bad, but I could clearly see it. Is a little buildup okay, or am I looking at replacing the rad.? Thanks for any replies.

-Tatortot

 

[Nut]

tot....... make ABSOLUTELY sure it's a OEM hose (i.e. as in correct SHAPE) and be sure your fan belts are tightened right. I sawed through my upper rad hose once running some twerp in a ricer only to find the belt was loose enough under that load to hit the bottom of the hose. Big arse surprise too me!!

FYI.................. nut

 

[22229stingray81]

Thanks for the advice Nut. Do you know of a place that carries the OEM? Does GM still make them? I'm assuming places like Zip and MAM don't carry OEM. Pep Boys and places like that probably won't have them either, correct?

-Tatortot

Edit: I just looked up the hose at Zip: http://www.zip-products.com/Zip/pro...alse&mscssid=042CBD1B8B2F34B878EE41C56621C683

It says "Correct Part Number radiator hose. GM #14016075".
Think this is okay?

 

[22229stingray81]

I just started her up, and the heater hose slowly collapsed again. Is this because I need to add more coolant/water, or is the hose just old and needs to be replaced asap?

I can't do much with her today because it has been downpouring all day, but I scoped out a shop, and I think I'll give 'em a shot. Thanks for any information anyone can give me.

-Tatortot

 

[22229stingray81]

Good News (Update)

I spent all day today running around to parts places and shops, and under the hood of the 'vette. It seems that upper rad. hoses are on backorder in a few places, so I ordered one at my local Chevy dealership and they said it should be in tomorrow. I ran down to Zip Corvette (WOW what a cool place) and got a new lower rad. hose, new clamps, and a new rad. cap. I got home and installed the new cap and let her idle for a while up to temp. No leaks, and it stayed really really cool. The new cap is rated at 16 lbs. and the old one was rated at 15 lbs., that shouldn't be a problem should it?

I then scoped out a shop that Zip recommended and it looks okay. There were about 8 'vettes outside, and 2 were 81's! The only thing I didn't like about it is it was on a sort of city street and they had the Corvettes parked on the street, and it doesn't look very secure. No gate or anything for when the close up at night. Oh well.

So, next step, get the upper rad. hose, and make an appointment with the new shop. Now it looks like I don't have to tow it either. Thanks for everyones help/advice.

-Tatortot

 

[Yoda]

Tatortot,

Sounds like you are on a roll As for the radiator cap, the factory spec call for a 15psi, I don't know but I wouldn't think a 16psi would hurt anything :confused ...

2 other 1981's ya say .... be sure to recruit them if they aren't already in the Registry ...

When do you graduate Tator... is it this year??

Bud

 

[22229stingray81]

I was a little worried about the rad. cap, but I think it will be okay. It is an aftermarket part (I tried to avoid that), but only 1 lb. HIGHER should be alright.

No Bud, not this year, probably another full 3 semesters. Winter of '08 I'm looking at. I decided I wanted to get a Psychology minor along with my B.S. so its going to take a bit longer. The end is in sight.

-Tatortot

 

[Yoda]

I was a little worried about the rad. cap, but I think it will be okay. It is an aftermarket part (I tried to avoid that), but only 1 lb. HIGHER should be alright.

No Bud, not this year, probably another full 3 semesters. Winter of '08 I'm looking at. I decided I wanted to get a Psychology minor along with my B.S. so its going to take a bit longer. The end is in sight.

-Tatortot

you go Tator

Bud

 

[22229stingray81]

Does anyone know if the upper radiator hose is suppose to have the anti-collapseing spring inside it?

-Tatortot

 

[bill81vette]

Does anyone know if the upper radiator hose is suppose to have the anti-collapseing spring inside it?

-Tatortot

yup! mine did replaced both of them this past winter!!!!

 

[22229stingray81]

Okay that explains a lot. The one that is on there now keeps collapsing, so either the spring just vanished into thin air, or there was never one in there. I'll be sure the replacement has one. Thanks for the post.

-Tatortot

 

[81kix]

Okay that explains a lot. The one that is on there now keeps collapsing, so either the spring just vanished into thin air, or there was never one in there. I'll be sure the replacement has one. Thanks for the post.

-Tatortot

I am confused, just had mine replaced and the new one did not have a spring in it, but the old one did. Why is that?
I hope I make sense.

 

[22229stingray81]

The non-spring hose was probably an aftermarket part. From what I understand, the GM part has the spring. Also, it looks like there is a shortage of the GM hose, so I'd stick with the aftermarket part for right now.

-Tatortot

 

[KOPBET]

Does anyone know if the upper radiator hose is suppose to have the anti-collapseing spring inside it?

-Tatortot

The upper hose should not need or have a anti-collapse spring. If it collapses when the engine cools it needs replaced.