I have a '92 602 which ran hot, approx. 100C, on the highway. When I stopped to fuel up, about 4 minutes after shutting off the engine a large amount of coolant came out of the overflow container onto the pavement. I eased the car the 5 blocks home, shut it down and watched in horror as the temp gauge climbed back up above 110. I opened the hood and found that the upper radiator hose was completely collapsed.

The next morning I found oil in the coolant reservoir and I am in the process of replacing the head gasket. In addition the head needs to be resurfaced as it is 4/1000th out of level in a couple places, between cyl 3 and 4.

I am not sure what actually caused the overheating other that poor circulation. What would cause the upper radiator hose to collapse? While I have everything open I want to make sure that I actually fix the cause of the problem and not just the symptom.

Thanks in advance for your help.

My thought was that the collapsed radiator hose caused excessive pressure and heat in the engine which caused the head gasket to fail.

In this case I need to figure out what caused the cooling system problem.

As was pointed out to me it could have been that the failing head gasket caused the overflow and collapsed radiator hose.

Is one more likely than the other and is there a way to figure out which was the cause?

Check the head well for cracks, visually as well as a pressure test (preferrably hot). Yours is probably a later casting (check against the FSM) but there were cracking issues between the combustion chamber and water jacket.

If good, re-surface and re-install. Watch temperature closely for temperature issues.

No way that I can think of to know which came first.

You'll also want to check the FSM and measure pre-chamber protrusion after machining. I don't know if .004" means different shims.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I had the head checked for cracks and pressured tested and it passed both of those.

Does FSM mean factory shop manual? And by shims are you referring to the ones on the precombustion chambers?

Too bad there isn't a way to figure out which problem came first. It would make the overall solution much easier.

I can't think of a way, but there are plenty of guys smarter than I am.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff