Re: leaky radiator hose diagnosis please
 

I use Autozone standard "green" coolant. It has been known to be of good compatible conventional chemistry.

lift the passenger side of the car really high when filling the coolant- this pretty much does the trick to burp out the air bubble you get at the water pump.

I think I had to remove the mounting bolts for the thermostat housing to be able to pull it back and replace the hose. On mine, I took it to the store and found that a 4.2 V6 f150 hose has a straight section the same diameter as the LT5 lower...so I made one out of that as mine was swollen and old. I was able to reuse all the other hoses (I even have spares from another member so I'm not sweating it on them).

Re: leaky radiator hose diagnosis please
 

Thanks- I ordered a full new set from Jerry's--- a silicone set.

I'll look at the thermostat and see if removing it makes sense in my situation.

Thanks!

Re: leaky radiator hose diagnosis please
 

I installed the hoses last night. A little silicone lube on the inside of the hoses (they arrived on-time; thanks Jerry!) and the fittings and made it easier to install.

I'm using the "old" hose clamps instead of getting all new "worm" clamps. However the top of the bottom hose near the water pump had a worm style, so I cleaned, lubed and reused.

So, here is a question about my latest paranoia... can you "over tighten" a worm clamp on a water hose?

The hose near the top of the water pump is at an insanely weird angle and super tight fit for my hands. I could only get a 1/4 drive ratchet on it turning is about 1/8 at a time and the ratchet it slipped off many times falling to floor.

I had to contort my body like a Cirque du Soleil water dancer so I have no "feel" for how much was actually torqued (or over torqued??) as I kept going until the head of the clamp would spin no more and the socket slipped a bit an actually got wedged/stuck on the head as the angle changed. A small tap-tap with a hammer loosened it up. I quit after that.

Am i good or do I need to re-contort and loosen a bit?

Radiator (should) arrive tonight and install starts. If all goes well, radiator install, hoses connect, oil line re attached and shrouds in place.

Fingers crossed for the weekend--- predicted to be 70 on Sunday!

Re: leaky radiator hose diagnosis please
 

Radiator showed up yesterday, almost
too pretty to install! 😀

Re: leaky radiator hose diagnosis please
 

Bring it Saturday for SHOW AND TELL!

:cheers:

Re: leaky radiator hose diagnosis please
 

**Voo doo time**

I have the whole system back together, ready to fire off and check. What a PITA. I have about 15 hours on this project (I admit to having ADHD and vectoring off on "side projects" as long as I'm all elbow deep and things are apart.) All that I have left to do is connect the battery and turn the key. Frankly the biggest time suck was removing the original hoses that seemed to fused on the pipe connections. Cleaning also ate a bunch of time as I could NOT just put everything back together dirty,

Because I'm superstitious, I'm going to wait till morning. If something goes wrong, I'll be up all night fuming. Tomorrow I'll have all day to fix it, (but fuming non the less) and beer will help offset the pain. My neighbor David has a '96 GS so he can console me.

I've pulled out my chicken bones, bat wings, red wine and have begun chanting.

Re: leaky radiator hose diagnosis please
 

You should be fine, as you always had good success with keeping your 82 in great condition, I'm sure the ZR-1 will be just as successful...
Lol....you might not even sleep tonight.....I would have to fire it up now...lol

Re: leaky radiator hose diagnosis please
 

Thanks for the vote of confidence! Tomorrow I'd double check everything and then flip the key.

Fortunately my wife and I are recent empty nesters (but with two German Shepherd and three cats) so a shared bottle of merlot allows me to reflect (or be lazy) and plan for tomorrow.