Rad hose replacement?? upper?

[i_love_cb7]

Well, a mech told me that my mom's cb7 needs to replace the rad hose soon.

its the one that leads from the top of the rad to the head, so I'm guessing its the upper rad hose.

It's swelled like a fat kid right now, so I will need to replace it asap

Can anyone tell me how to change it??

wait till it's cool?
just take it off somehow??

this is a basic skill right???

Help

[Maple50175]

Yes, well sorta. you need to go to the drain bolt at the bottom of the radiator. Drain out all the fluid. while the plug out start the car so make sure you get it all out of the engine. Once you have it all gone. Then take off the 2 clamp's that hold the hose on and replace with new one. They cost about 12$ for a hose.

It would be wise to replace the bottom radiator hose also just so you don't have to go through all the troubles again if that goes.


Hope it helps

wayne

[deckeda]

If all you wish to do is replace the upper hose it isn't necessary to completely drain the radiator. Just drain part of it. Or do as Wayne says and do both hoses. There's a spot in the center of the radiator at the bottom you should be able to get to without taking off the lower plastic shroud. If you can't reach it take off the lower plastic shroud ...

If the clamps are OEM you'll need some ViseGrips or a special tool to pinch the clamp together very tightly before wiggling the hose ends off. It'll suck but you can do it. Twist and pull.

If the clamps are OEM chances are you can reuse them --- they are higher quality than the screw-type sold at auto parts stores. When I replaced my hoses I asked the parts guy at the dealer if I should replace them anyway and he looked at me like I was crazy --- they don't really wear out.

You may be wondering if you should use some sort of liquid gasket (such as blue Permatex or whatever) around the new hose(s) where they slip on. You don't need anything --- the hoses will seal just fine, especially if you use OEM clamps. With screw-type clamps it's very easy to over or under tighten --- both are bad news.

Because the top of the radiator isn't the highest point in the cooling system you must then purge air bubbles at the highest point --- near the thermostat. Loosen (but don't remove) a small drain bolt (it points straight up) on the thermostat housing. Refill the radiator with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze & water. Fluid will eventually come out of the drain bolt you opened in the thermostat housing. When it comes out steady close that drain bolt.

As you refill the radiator with the car running you don't want it to suck in fluid from the reservoir, so pinch off that little lose or just take it off or out. Start the car and let it get hot. You'll see some bubbles eventually at the top of the radiator and the fluid may go down a bit. Keep filling as it does this.

When it won't take any more fluid put the radiator cap on, fix the reservoir hose and you are done unless you need to fill up the reservoir.

[pretty_ricky302]

take offf the two clamps let the rad fluid come out till it stops , put on new hose wit clamps, add fluid ur done

[HondaFan81]

If ur replacing one, why not replace the other? If one is bad, most likely the other is too. I don't like to play around on parts like this....why take the risk.

[i_love_cb7]

deckeda - thankyou very much, that was very helpful!!

I'll try to replace both hose, may as well

thx guys, any more tips are welcome!!

[bruno8747]

While ur at it might aswell do a coolant flush if your coolant is bad.

[aero]

A nice tip for the old rad hoses. They will probably be a pain in getting off, so just cut them with a razor where they are on the rad and on the head. then they will come off easily.

And its not too hard of a job.

[ACCORDianate]

Replacing both hoses should take no longer than an hour. They are fairly easy to replace and if they fail they can leave you stranded, so better get it done before you get all the snow and cold weather that AB is famous for.

[xwade01]

Yes, make sure you get both of those done. I left my house, and my upper radiator hose seemed a lil "Eh". But anyways I hit a bump and all of a sudden I saw smoke commin from my engine bay. Upper radiator hose blew open, and then I later found out my bottom radiator hose was bad. Get those done man!

[i_love_cb7]

Well I did it, costed $20 cad

I had to cut the hose a bit and the angle is a bit weird......

let me know how I did....
pix:
http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthre...d=1#post407687

[lowoctane]

cutting is typical, ive gotten plenty of hoses that needed cutting, they usually do it on purpose to give extra slack, so its never too short...

[FishyMan]

the bottom one is th eone that sucks imo...

[TheTempest]

the bottom one is th eone that sucks imo...

agreed.

btw, nice pics on the job well done.

[deckeda]

... let me know how I did....

Looks like it turned out OK. Good job.