Lower radiator hose came flying off

Last night under heavy acceleration my lower radiator hose came flying off the radiator. Could the clamp have not been on good enough? This is a good worm drive clamp not the pinch clamps. Thankfully, I was right down the street from my house and was able to shut the car off as it was approaching the red zone. I put the hose back on im about to go get some coolant to replace what I lost. Any ideas?

Sounds like you should just get a new clamp and make sure it's tight. Not sure what else to suggest.

White93ltz wrote:

Sounds like you should just get a new clamp and make sure it's tight. Not sure what else to suggest.

I am with him^^^^^^^^^^^Just sounds like the clamp was not on tight.

Well the morning after I checked it out the clamp was at the absolute very end of the hose and I dont think it was on the neck of the rad very deep. I stuck it on as far as it could go and put the clamp nice and tight. Took me a few trips to autozone cause I didn't know I had the extra capacity cooling system. It took four gallons! Good thing about it is they gave me a free bottle of gum out fuel system cleaner with every gallon I bought! So, hose is back on, coolant is full and bled. My heat could melt the skin off my bones!

Not to scare the living crap out of you or anything but, I had the same problem with a BMW beater I had while in Germany. It ended up being a cracked head building up steam and pressure in the cooling system. I would keep and eye on it just to be on the safe side. I hope this isn't the same kind thing for you. It seems odd that a hose would just pop off the radiator for no reason though.

UberWagon wrote:

Not to scare the living crap out of you or anything but, I had the same problem with a BMW beater I had while in Germany. It ended up being a cracked head building up steam and pressure in the cooling system. I would keep and eye on it just to be on the safe side. I hope this isn't the same kind thing for you. It seems odd that a hose would just pop off the radiator for no reason though.

It is funny you say that Ray. I lost most of the exhaust system from underneath a old BMW 3 series trying to nagotiate around some huge pot holes in a road construction site in the Black Forrest, heading to Switzerland. Add to that I could not find my reg anywhere in the car and had to turn around at the border.
My second attempt at Switzerland was also a fail. The clutch linkage in my brothers GTO let go and became to tough to drive in the mountains.