First of all I'm not a cooling expert but I'm going based on common sense. When you squeeze your radiator hoses, have you ever felt anything solid inside? My 85 firebird 2.8 FI has had a cooling system leak for a while now. The upper radiator hose is fine, but the lower hose is FULL of something solid. It feels like it's full of marbles. I have no idea what it is, except maybe buildup from a radiator which is falling apart internally? But I think it's the cause of my leaking cooling system. Any ideas let me know. I'm not a cooling expert by any means, but I was pretty sure those hoses were supposed to be totally hollow for coolant to pass through..? Any help is appreciated.


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1982 Recaro Trans Am LU5/WS6/Y84, 2971.6 original miles - http://ohok.com/82recaro
1985 basic Firebird, LB8/F41/GU6/DE1, '82 T/A wheels, CB, 131k - Get JPG picture here

 

Take your car to a clean patch of pavement...

Idle it and rev it a little in place...

Take a look and see where the drip is coming from.. and then get back to us...

If it doesn't leak externally... then if you are infact losing coolant, you have an internal leak... IE head gasket...

If the hose doesn't look kosher... your best bet would be to replace them. It's not too hard, and not too expensive.

If the hose looks good, and you don't overheat at all, then the hose is most likely good... however if you're in question, it's often cheaper to replace it 'just in case'... rather than have it blow on the highway...

Hope that helps...

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1985 Camaro SC - 2.8L, auto.

http://www.xenodrgn.f2s.com/Frontright.jpg

 

Are you sure its not a spring? Some radiator hoses have metal springs or coils to keep them from collapsing.. There definately shouldn't be anything like marbles in there, take it off and find out. Where is it leaking?