2 part question, regarding a 2000 Olds Alero with the 2.4 4-cyl. Girlfriend's car, and unfortunately has seen better days.

First off--sorry if this is a stupid question--yesterday I replaced the lower radiator hose on the car. When I cut the old hose to drain the coolant and remove it, I found inside it a coiled wire that looks kind of like a long spring, or a slinky. The new hose did not have one of these, and while I tried to get the slinky into the new hose, it wouldn't go. I presume this was there to keep the hose shaped--is it important? Do I need to find a hose with one in it? The new hose, while on the car and not leaking, has a bend in it that looks like it would kink if it was bent any farther--as it is, the hose goes from round to oval in cross-section at that bend. Do I need to be concerned, or should this hold up OK?

Second--the cooling system in general has some issues. The car showed the low coolant light and temp needle went to hot a month or two ago, upon inspection there was obviously a leak. Wasn't driven very far at hot. Took it to a service station, where they diagnosed it as a cracked thermostat housing. Replaced housing, car was fine for a while. (They recommended replacing the lower rad hose, btw). Now it's leaking coolant again, but it's a slower leak. Not leaking from the radiator or rad hose, from somewhere up inside the engine, appears to be near the back. Any ideas what could be going, just based on this? Water pump was replaced ~2 years ago, thermostat housing is obviously new. I know these cars are prone to issues with the intake manifold gaskets, but I hope it's not that, as that might cost more than the car is worth to repair.

Thanks in advance for any input and sorry for the [words].

10/6/2008 12:22:10 PM

First- trim some length off the new hose so it wont kink. You should be fine without the spring.


Second- best thing to do is pressure test the cooling system, then pinpoint the leak.

10/6/2008 12:49:37 PM