hard radiator hose

[ls6firebird]

i noticed my radiator hose felt pretty hard. i dont have any other issues tho. no puking, white smoke, coolant level is fine, and the truck runs great. oil looks good too.

now i dont think ive ever sqeezed a radiator hose. never had a worry of having a head gasket issue, so im not completely sure whats normal. i checked the hose at night when i got home. the next moring i could squeeze the hose completely flat. not sure if that means anything or not.

[sinner6.0L]

stop squeezing your hose!

your degas bottle cap will let you know when something is wrong. what you've described is completely normal

[ls6firebird]

Originally Posted by sinner6.0L

stop squeezing your hose!

your degas bottle cap will let you know when something is wrong. what you've described is completely normal

haha! awesome, thanks!

[southend]

lol.....you're the second guy in a short time that has posted something about squeezing his hose.....no kidding. Except the other guy compared the firmness of his hose to his buddys......what the heck would make you want to do this?

[sinner6.0L]

haha

[ls6firebird]

haha i heard that if the radiator hose is hard it could be a sign of a bad head gasket. thankfully there are forums so i can ask people who know what theyre talking about!

[southend]

Originally Posted by ls6firebird

haha i heard that if the radiator hose is hard it could be a sign of a bad head gasket. thankfully there are forums so i can ask people who know what theyre talking about!

I hear ya, i'm just ...... now ...just not the best way to diagnose the issue. Cooling systems are always pressurized to increase the boiling temp....your cap is 16psi. If you hear venting while throttling down then investigate further. Sounds like a "tea Kettle". Better yet you should invest in a monitoring solution.

[ls6firebird]

Originally Posted by southend

I hear ya, i'm just ...... now ...just not the best way to diagnose the issue. Cooling systems are always pressurized to increase the boiling temp....your cap is 16psi. If you hear venting while throttling down then investigate further. Sounds like a "tea Kettle". Better yet you should invest in a monitoring solution.

haha i know! yea im going to get an insight here soon

[southend]

I have the edge CTS.

[SharkDiver]

Well you are right in a way because if your HG/egr cooler are bad your hoses will be very hard because of the extra psi. If your trk has no problems you will only have about 5psi or so in your coolant system but if you have a bad HG or egr cooler you could have as much as a constant 10-16psi or more. That means your hose will be much harder then a trk with normal psi and it is very noticeable when you squeeze the hoses.
If I was you I would test your degas bottle and see what psi you are getting so maybe you could catch a problem early.