Coolant hose failure and roadside fix

[candyman]

Hey all,
So i had a coolant hose fail complety while on the road. Not only that, it was one of the syncro specific hoses that would leave you dead in the water while waiting for a replacement as no FLAPS would have this hose in stock. However, being an anal VW owner I carry a good selection of used hoses that I have swapped out for new ones over the years. The hose in question for today's sermon is the lower H pipe to coolant junction. Those that are not aware, this hose makes several odd bends that a straight hose would end up kinking and potentially cutting off precious coolant supply. This is a common sense tutotrial that I am sure many would be able to figure out on there own. But if there is just one person out there whom this could help, then this thread is worth it.

Okay here is the failed hose puking coolant all over the engine and the road

After enough coolant has poured out I clamped the hose coming out of the coolant res to slow the leak down. I then proceeded to dress the wound. I used elastic electrical tape to help slow the coolant geyser

After the tape i cut a portion of used hose i had on hand to go over the entire area to be repaired. I then cinched that hose tightly over the area using zip ties. Now this repair was just to hold long enough to get off the road and let things cool down so I could really go to work. This fix worked well for the 10 additional miles I needed to travel. It did drip but not a ton

Okay now with everything cool enough to handle i proceed to do another repair. That involved replacing this hose entirely as longer term temporary repair (basically to buy me road time while waiting on cookies and this new hose). As I mentioned before this hose has bends to it that a straight hose would not work. I just happened to have with me a good used 2wd coolant tower to Tstat hose that has very similar bends in it. Of course coolant tower hose is much longer so I had to cut it down to match as closely as possible. Not a bad match!

I then used some Loctite 518, I now always use thanks to Insyncro's advice, on the connections to help seal things better

Then installed the hose and clamped. A pretty close fit and very doable with no kinks

Here is another shot of the failed hose

I filled up with coolant and was on my merry happy way. This fix working is great. How long will it last? Who knows, probably for a very long time until this used hose fails. But the rubber is good and the ends are not split, so truthfully I could run it for a very long time. However, I have a replacement hose on its way and will be swapping this out properly soon. But Im on the road until then with a very decent temporary fix. Hope this helps someone out there!

[Merian]

good tips - rather than elastic electrical tape, I carry a roll of the fusing silicone type tape in every vehicle I own

[DAV!D]

I've had similar happen on my old 2wd. It was an odd hose with different sizes on each end.

I did a similar repair, but I cut the hose at the break, then used a hose splicer and shoved it into the smaller hose. I then used a bigger hose which was the side that had ruptured and fit it over the other hose and clamped the entire thing together.

Worked fine. I eventually bought a replacement but I kept the other hose in place for another 2 or 3 months before I had to fix something else.
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