Mechanical retard here so go easy on me.

Top radiator hose keeps jumping off. Did it on old hose, and actually took a piece of the radiator lip with it. It still had enough of a lip on it to install a new hose and new clamp. I took it out today, got on it a little bit and the damn thing jumps off again, fluid everywhere in a parking lot. This car (305tpi) never gets hot.

Filled it again, moved clamp to the very end of where the hose and radiator connect, tighten it down like crazy.

What could be causing so much pressure at that spot? Am I tightening the cap too much or what?

 

Im no mechanic & probable talking smack here. But the first thing that comes to mind is that maby you have the wrong presure cap wich you mentioned & it could be that you termostat is not opening & since the termostat is located at the end of that hose, thats were it pops.

 

nope. Its the right cap and I just put in a new thermostat after replacing the hoses and doing a flush and fill.

It does the same thing with the new parts as it did with the old ones...

 

You aren't putting any kind of sealant on the hose, are you? I saw someone do that years ago. He thought it would help with leakage problems. The hose would slide right off with minimal system pressure.

I wonder if there is a crack in a combustion chamber, causing excessive pressure to enter the cooling system? I would think the hose or the radiator would blow before they would come off.

 

When you say "took some of the radiator lip", I am under the impression that it came apart at the upper radiator fitting? Of so, just how much of a lip did it take with it? If in doubt of any cooling system leakages, you could always pressure test the system. However, the cap should open and vent to the overflow long before anything breaks (as that is its job).

You can't really over tighten the cap, due to the design. Once it locks in place, it's locked.

How long, in relation to the initial opening of the thermostat, does it take for the upper hose to burst?

 

Well in summary, I think the first time it jumped off was due to the bad rad. cap. The last time I think was due to not having the clamp far enough back on the upper fitting to compensate for the lip being gone.

Although I dont drive it much, it hasnt came off again, so Im crossing my fingers. I wont get my car out of the shop until later this week (new exhaust). I will take it on a long run after I get it back. Thanks for the replies, buying radiator fluid was getting old.

 

Doesn't it though? I've overheated my LG4 Caprice 4 times in the course of 2 months (in no particular order, though the pump was first):

1.) Water pump died
2.) Burst the upper hose at the thermostat side
3.) Burst the heater hose at the flush/fill connector
4.) T-stat stuck shut, boiled over

Thankfully, it was in the summer and water could be used.

 

ARGHHHH!
I just got my car back today and it
jumped off again. Guess its the radiator "connector" to the top hose. Looks like Im going to have to buy a whole new radiator due to the crappy-azz plastic design.

The OEM replacement is the cheapest, but I dont ever want to go through this again. I'll probably get a more expensive one that you can actually connect the hose to some metal.

Anyone else been through this before?