Keeping your coolant system in your vehicle healthy is a big piece of the puzzle of responsible automobile ownership.
At the same time, though, this kind of preventative maintenance is nowhere near as widely publicized as getting your oil changed, rotating your tires, or swapping out new windshield wiper blades.
In fact, most automobile manufacturers don’t even specify when coolant hoses should be replaced!
This is the kind of maintenance that falls squarely on your shoulders.
It’s critically important that you know exactly what to look for in coolant hoses that are compromised, that you understand what causes coolant hoses to begin to break down, and that you know how often to check for these kinds of problems in the first place.
Below we answer all of that for you and then even tackle (almost) everything you need to know about replacing coolant hoses all on your own.
Ready to jump right in?
How Do I Know It’s Time for Coolant Hose Replacement?
The odds are pretty good that you’re going to know it’s time for your coolant hoses to be replaced the moment that they become compromised.
Sometimes this means you see the little temperature gauge on your dashboard redline on you, pegging it to the extreme and lighting up like a Christmas tree.
Sometimes, though, you’re only going to get a feeling that your coolant hoses have started to leak when you see little drops of fluid underneath your vehicle – drops of fluid that can’t otherwise be explained.
Of course, if you are regularly inspecting your vehicle (closely inspecting core parts with a flashlight on a monthly basis, for example) you’ll probably spot these problems way before they become catastrophic failures.
At the end of the day, though, if your engine feels like it is starting to overheat – or has any of the classic signs and symptoms of overheating – the chances are pretty decent that something is going little sideways with your coolant system, your coolant reservoir, or your coolant hoses.
What Causes These Hoses to Breakdown?
A number of different things can contribute to the breakdown of your coolant hoses, including the way that these hoses are designed and engineered in the first place.
Because these hoses are so important for shuttling pressurized fluid throughout your engine bay they have to be flexible enough to handle all the shaking, rattling, and rolling that your vehicle is going to be subjected to going down the road.
For this reason, coolant hoses are made out of very durable rubber materials with a flexible fabric mesh in the inside layer.
This combination of materials is designed to provide just the right amount of flex to the hoses so that they can bob and weave with your engine without coming loose, all while maintaining rigidity and maintaining the internal pressure levels of the coolant itself.
Unfortunately, even the most durable rubber materials and flexible fabric mesh will eventually become compromised – especially when subjected to the extreme temperatures of the liquid coolant within.
Today’s hoses last a whole lot longer than they ever did in the past. But they are still going to wear out.
Combine that with the fact that metals from your engine that get deposited into your coolant levels will eat away and tear at your hoses, that electrochemical degradation happens over time no matter what, and that other fluids in your engine – especially oil – can spray out and come in contact with these hoses (further breaking them down) means they have to be checked regularly.
How Often Should I Be Checking for Coolant Hose Damage?
As far as how often you should be checking for coolant hose damage is concerned, a once a month inspection of your engine bay is never a bad idea – though you could probably put that off to once every two or three months if you absolutely had to.
All you have to do is pop the hood on your car, grab a flashlight, and carefully inspect all of the core components of your engine.
This regular checkup will give you a good idea of what your engine is supposed to look like, which means you’ll always know when something is a little off or little sideways.
Keeping things limited to every month (every couple of months) means you don’t have to spend all kinds of time under your hood, either. It’s just enough to spot most problems before they grow into real emergencies without sort of overburdening you with unnecessary maintenance, too.
If you see something minor, though, it’s a good idea to – at the very least – note the problem and check up on things maybe every week or every couple of weeks.
If you see something major, though, you’ll need to address the problem ASAP.
How to Knock This Project Out on Your Own
Luckily, tackling a coolant hose replacement project is nowhere near as challenging as a lot of people make it out to be.
Here’s a quick overview of the steps you’ll want to follow:
- Start with a cold engine
- Put a pan under your radiator
- Pop the clamps off of your radiator hoses
- Remove old hose, replace with new hose
- Replace clamps with new ones, tighten to spec
- Refill your radiator with approved fluids for your vehicle
- Start your car – without the radiator cap on! – and rev engine two or three times
- Lock down your radiator cap
It’s really (REALLY) important that you make sure you tackle this project with an engine that is ice cold.
If you try to tackle this with an engine that has been run recently you are going to open up that radiator cap and have boiling hot coolant – pressurized coolant, no less – come flying out at you.
That’s obviously going to create a whole bunch of other problems, not the least of which is significant burns to you or anyone else in the immediate vicinity.
No, make sure that you only ever attempt this kind of project when your engine is completely cold.
It’s also not a bad idea to assemble all of your tools and supplies before you pop the hood and start pulling parts of your coolant system apart. Take pictures before you begin so that you know how things are oriented and where everything goes, too.