Hi Everybody, I'm breaking my FChat fast because I need your help. Almost 4 years ago, the coolant/plenum hose on my 1998 550 that runs under the injector housing broke, and I had FOH replace the hose. (The total repair was $2,500. The cost of the hose was $18.) Well, guess what? On the hottest day of the year, the hose blew again on Sunday. I'm pretty sure that it is plenum hose because the check engine light came on and off, the car started heating up, and when I opened the hood, steam was pouring out of the top of the engine, i.e., under the injector housing. After researching the issue here, I came across a set of pics on FChat showing the original "bad" hose and the "good" hose with the white stripes. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=126228 When I checked my car, it has the good hose with the white stripes, but it still broke. FOH says that they will have to replace the hose with whatever is recommended by the gods in Maranello. I talked with Ferda, who is the best independent in Houston, and he said that he would come up with something better, such as aviation hose, a heat shield, or something. Because I believe that running a hose that will carry hot water under an injector housing next to 12 cylinders pumping out heat has got to be one of the most bone headed designs ever, I do not want to replace this hose with another $18 POS garden hose. What I want to do instead is to fix this problem once and for all. So, what are your thoughts? Should I have a metal hose fabricated? Or will some super heavy duty space shuttle quality hose work? As always, intelligent responses will be greatly appreciated. Dale
There are 3 hoses under there, did they replace them all? * $800 job, btw. * I ask only because you referenced the cost of only one hose......
I'd get the HOSE-MAN to make you a new one out of something superior like silicon http://www.hose-man.com/sys-tmpl/hoseselector/
Doc - how'd ya know I was thinking about ya? I said to Google: "electrochemical degradation" radiator resist Google said to me: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22electrochemical+degradation%22+radiator+resist&btnG=Google+Search Amongst the wise saying of Google results was this: http://www.allbusiness.com/transportation-warehousing/3984570-1.html :::To address the damage by ECD, Gates recommends the use of electrochemically resistant coolant hose using an ethylene propylene rubber (EPDM) formula and special wrapped reinforcement. Gates engineers estimate the average service life of such hoses will exceed 750,000 miles. In addition to providing electrochemical resistance, the EPDM hose offers improved performance characteristics over standard rubber hose and the more expensive silicone hose, the company said.::: Fine and Dandy, Grain of Salt or Truth divided by Half... This is one of many sites mentioning Gates - not all the sites use the same "ad copy" or blurb, so... hopefully, claims like 750K are on the up and up. If the busted hose was soft - electrochemical degradation was cause. If the busted hose was hard - heat was cause.
Wish me well. Car is on its way to Ferda at Vintage Motorcars. I'll update you with what he finds out. Dale Image Unavailable, Please Login
Did you find the blue stuff at Summit? I think that's what wax has found for you! Maybe yours going in, will push the yellow Art Car out???? LOL! I just keep quiet on it until the new garage goes up.... Sorry to hear of your troubles though......
There is actually a great deal of labor involved in reaching that hose. It's so well buried, I think Ferrari tried to hide it alongside Jimmy Hoffa. As a relative point of comparison, it's like changing a 348 waterpump in situ sort of...
Well, I'm not a happy camper. The good news from Ferda is that the hose FOH replaced 4 years ago didn't break. The 6000 psi, silicon laced, super duper, puppy scooper that I paid $18 for (the part, not the labor) still works. The bad news is that FOH did not replace the other two POS original hoses. For want of a nail... And don't get me started about the manifold. Dale
So was the busted hose (this time around) soft from chemical degradation or hard/cracked from heat overtemp?
Something about that scenario rubs me the wrong way. When they do the major on a TR they replace everything in sight, and some that is not in sight, good, bad, or ugly. I can see the logic in that since usually the major expense is getting to the stuff, not the cost of the parts. Now I know that you don't have a TR, but I would have recommended replacement of every single coolant hose that you had in the car. Its almost like replacing one spark plug. BTW, hi. - g
Man!! What dicks!! Common sense would have told you to replace every hose that was under the manifold to avoid this happening. I feel your pain mate. We do it all the time at my work...............ALL the time. All comes down to the Superintendant trying to save a buck now, but it comes back and bites him on the ass every time!! I wish I was there to do the job for you mate. Saving a few dollars here and there is always appreciated. Make sure they replace them all this time and even the super duper puppy scooper too. You will fit 2 other new hoses and not replace this one, and in a years time, this one will blow!! Its Murphy's Rule Of Thumb.....always seems to happen this way!!
