Hi, Hope someone can help me. There are three hoses coming from the bottle. 2 go to the radiator, one larger at bottom of bottle, the other smaller one right off the cap, these are fine. The third hose was brittle and broke.

I had disconnected it to flush my tank due some oil in it. I was flushing tank to see if I continue to get oil into coolant to see if I needed a head gasket. After it broke, I splice a piece of new hose from the tank to a straight section of this hose. Now once up to temp, it leaks coolant out of my fender well. It goes down into the fender well somewhere underneath the battery. Where does this hose go? Is it conncted anywhere or just a dump? if its just a dump, what forces water to come out this hose? If its a closed prssure system, what keeps water from coming out this hose? Is there a valve at the bottle nipple i screwed up?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, Fish

Hi fish,
that hose goes to a container under the fender. It's supposed to catch coolant, that in case of temp>120/140 C makes it's way pass the seal of the radiator cap. In return the same hose will suck the coolant back into the system, out of the bottle, when it cools down. That's what is alowed by suction valve in the center of the radiator cap.
Repair the hose properly and change your radiator cap. If your car is not overheating, it's actual compression pressure causing this problem. Then you'll have to bite the bullet and get the head job done with.
All the best,
Dokta

Hi Dokta,

I'm prepared to do a head gasket if needed but as its a big job want to ensure I need it. I drove from NY to RI and in RI for a couple of weeks w/o any overheating or coolant problems. They only started when i went to take the bottle out to flush/clean out.

Sounds like by tugging on hose, I broke or disconnected it down at the bottle in the fender well. How do I get at this bottle? Do I have to take the fender off? Or is there another way to get to it?

Thanks for your help.

Fish

Hi,
as far as I remember, all you do is taking the wheel off, liner of wheelhousing out and you got access.
All the best,
Dokta

great, thanks,will do.

Wanted to check condition of my brake pads anyway as idiot light seems to come on at times.

Thanks, Fish

I replaced hose to that secondary expansion tank and my radiator cap and all seems fine with the cooling system now.

thanks for your help guys!