Howdy, Time to replace radiator hoses. Built the car about 20 years ago. The lower hose that I used had no spring so I put one in from another hose I had. Is it necessary to have that before I button this up? Larry
It's a good idea, so that coolant can be recovered from the overflow. Otherwise, the hose can collapse flat under the vacuum.
I always run an overflow (coolant recovery) tank, because Prestone is like $9 now, plus I hate the stuff spewing on the ground. If you've ever come up to a stoplight on a motorcycle and put your foot down into a puddle of someone's hot Prestone, you'll understand.
I don't think I ever had a lower hose with a spring. Personally I don't think that it is critical. But I'm a dare devil and always press my luck. I know that some have springs but in 50 years I've never needed one. Your mileage may vary.
Some coolant systems aren't pressurized & don't need a spring IMO if there's no overflow recovery bottle. Also, hoses get soft. A new hose which is short will likely never miss the spring.
Put the spring in the lower hose...better to be safe than sorry when it collapses down the road in the middel of nowhere....
If doesn't mater if its pressurized or not it can still collapse, newer hoses are more flexible and more likely to collapse causing restriction. Put it in and happy motoring. JW
When I was young, we had a friend with a old chevy blazer the would run around town just fine but get it on the freeway and it would just boil right over. Put it on the rack and revved it up and you could just see the lower hose suck together and starve the water pump for water. New hose with spring and problem solved. I would highly recommend a spring type hose just to be safe. in my humble opinion.Doug,yruhot
Having a spring and not needing it wont hurt near as bad as not having a spring and needing one. I say the same thing about firearms too.
Yep, any water pump is capable of sucking the lower hose shut like that. A spring is just good insurance that it won't happen.
When one collapses, if I open the radiator cap & it'll expand, because the system was closed & trying to suck a vacuum. An open system shouldn't do that, should it? I always run a spring, but I always run a closed, pressurized system...
It may be pressurized but when the water pump is earning its keep at mid/ higher RPM there is a lot of resistance for the coolant to flow, that's when the hose will collapse.......when its needed most. JW
I got tired of popping my radiator cap, even though it was infrequent. Best thing I ever did was to install a spring. It costs damn near nothing to do and the benefit is worth it.
on tight curved ones was either a spring inside or a solid pipe like we do on the semis only use the rubber as a short connector and the metal also helps disapate some heat too .
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