dkersten

I just put the factory thermostat back in the other day, it had been sitting for a year in a box. The hose directly above it was firmly clamped with the factory clamp, but just an hour ago, I was making a left turn under fairly heavy throttle.

When I shifted, I felt the back end kick loose, and thankfully corrected fast enough to no hit any of the cars around me, but when I looked in the rear view, there was a pretty healthy sized cloud of white smoke. My first thought was "I didn't think I was roasting the tires", but then I quickly put 2+2 together and realized I had a radiator leak. I pulled off at the next intersection and into a parking lot. When I popped the hood, sure enough the hose going from the crossover tube to the thermostat had come off completely. It blew 2 gallons of antifreeze all over my freshly detailed engine bay, and consequently all over my tires, causing the loss of traction.

Thankfully I wasn't far from a friend's shop and a quick phone call and his wife brought me some water and a pliers to put the hose back on and fill the radiator back up.

The thing that has me worried is how the hose came completely off..? I took some pics this morning of the engine bay, and I can see the clamp is firmly in place, not half on or anything. All I can think of is maybe the thermostat is sticking closed and the pressure built up, then when I got on the throttle, the water pump added some pressure and BOOM off it went. The thermostat looked closed when I looked in the hole, but I don't know if they actually open from the heat or from the heat and water pressure combined, so for all I know it could have been really easy to push in.

So just to be safe, I will put a new thermostat in tonight, and probably get a new hose clamp, just in case this one is a little weak.. Anything else anyone can suggest? I hate to get stranded somewhere if this happens again. Also, does anyone know the factory thermostat temp? Is it 190?