can anyone tell me what the condition is for a lower radiator hose to pop off in normal operating temp at idle?

my b18 swap was done 3 months ago in 1997 ek body. well, before i swapped it in, i decided to do the thermostat, water pump, radiator, upper and lower radiator hoses and all the belts so i wouldnt have to worry about it f*&@kin up on me.

just eight days ago, i was driving home from work. 15 mile drive. engine was in normal operating temp and i was at a red light. all of a sudden, all this steam rushed up from under my hood. luckily for me the light turned green and so i rushed across the street, parked my car and immediatly shut off my engine and popped my hood. i had left a trail of fresh green coolant from the intersection all the way to my car. more coolant left my car as it was sitting. after all the smoke cleared, i saw that my lower hose was off the radiator. i had my car towed home. tightend it up and was good again.

10.14.06, my car did the same thing at the local taco bell. luckily i packed a screw driver for the hose clamp and water for the refill. i filled it back up after tighting the hose and was off again. im afraid the car might do the same thing.

another note as i drive. as i drive, engine temp is 1/4 hot. as engine idles at stop, engine temp goes up half way and stays. as i drive again, engine temp drops to 1/4. fan does come on if engine is idle and temp wants to creep past half way mark.

i have not done a compression check. as car seems to be operating well.

my thoughts...... maybe the engine is creating too much pressure..... say.... head gasket is warping causing too much piston pressure and making coolant run faster making hose not able to hold its 13-18 psi of coolant pressure.

someone reassure me my car will be ok or recommend a suggested tune-up. thanks in advance.

 

What radiator/hoses are you running? If you're running the larger B series hoses on a stock Civic radiator with smaller inlet/outlet, that could be the problem. Even when I was driving around on a blown headgasket, none of my hoses ever popped off, but my overflow tank would fill up under boost.

 

you might have a defective radiator cap that is not opening--all that pressure has to go somewhere...

 

i purchased a new cap with the b18 radiator from autozone and oem hoses from autozone as well. i constantly check my overflow bottle, and it goes empty after 2 days. i fill the overflow with water not coolant. also, after turning off the engine, i can smell somthing close to evaporated water or coolant.

what blows first? the radiator or the hose. one thing i havent looked at or done is look at the hose while under pressure. when cold it seems to be tight. i wonder if the hose is already bad or starting to lose its form and start to deform under pressure. i think its commonly known as the tube bubbling.

the motor performs great. i love it. but with my situation at hand, im afraid of pushing my motor and having the hose pop out from under me in mid w.o.t. and have it overheat. so until i can find the culprit, i cant push my lovely chunk of scrap metal held on by nuts and bolts. --that was a joke.

 

if you say you bought a new cap... and the problem still happens... then you might want to change the thermostats.. if that doesn't help then you have a bad waterpump before jumpping to this change the thermostats 1st cause its cheaper.. also check to see if your fans are running..