Radiator bottom hose broken

alpac · #1 08-03-2005, 09:11 PM

I was was coming back from a 20mns drive this evening when the message 'check coolant level' appeared. I step out of the car and could hear a big pchiiiii! I opened the hood and saw that a hose at the bottom of the radiator was gone. I can see a hole at the bottom of the radiator where I guess the hoose was attached to. I do not know yet if the hoose attachment part of the radiator is broken or if it is just the hoose which is gone. Recently I had another cooling system problem when the top hoose between the expension tank and the radiator broke. Is the cooling system a weakness of the X5?

alpac · #2 08-03-2005, 09:15 PM

another question, do you think I can drive the 2.5 miles to the garage tomorrow morning with no coolant without damaging the engine?

JCL · #3 08-03-2005, 09:48 PM

No, you can't drive it 2.5 miles to the shop. Too much risk.

I don't have a sense that the X5 has a weak cooling system. However, if I had failed a top hose recently, and then a lower hose soon after, I would look into whether there was a connection with the two events. For example, was the radiator removed at some point, and were the hoses reinstalled properly? Or, when the top hose was repaired, was the lower hose disturbed/moved/disconnected?

Get it towed, and tell the shop that the upper hose was worked on recently. Ask them if they see any reason to link the two events (assuming that they are not the shop that fixed the top hose, or if they are, that you have a good relationship with them).

Good luck.

alpac · #4 08-03-2005, 09:55 PM

Ok thanks will get it towed then.

alpac · #5 08-04-2005, 12:19 PM

I got it towed to the garage this morning and told them to look at a possible cause of the problem rather than just replacing the hose. I found indeed strange that I broke 2 different collant hoses in 2 different places within a week. May be there is too much pressure in the cooling system. How about if the thermostat was not doing its job opening the circuit when the right temp is reached for example? if that makes any sense. However the temp indicator has never shown any over heating.

alpac · #6 08-04-2005, 06:06 PM

Well... the garage told me that I have a blown head gasket and that they will replace it under the garranty. I got a loaner while waiting for my car to be fixed which they said could take up to a couple of weeks. Anyway I am wondering how I can have blown a head gasket when there was no sign of over heating. It is true that we got pretty extreme temperature recently here up to 104f but the temp indicator has never shown any problem. I am really wondering what underlying problem could have cause this. I am also wondering if that could not have created other problems. Is there anything I should double check when I get the car back?