Heater Hose Failure?
Author
Discussion

mike9009

Original Poster:

9,567 posts

266 months

Wednesday 16th June 2010
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Hi

Complete novice here, but this evening having got home from work, a load of smoke (or steam?) came from under the bonnet.

Upon opening the bonnet, a stream of liquid (red and slightly sticky) was squirting from near the bulkhead. My initial thoughts were the heater hose (one nearest the engine). Is there any other pipes in the near region that may spontaneously spout out liquid? How often do these fail? How easy to DIY replace? Looks quite easy and will probably replace both? Any hints and tips to save my knuckles?

Think I will replace with the mx5parts silicone hoses.....


Mike


MX-5 Lazza

7,954 posts

242 months

Wednesday 16th June 2010
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Sounds like a heater hose.

NeoVR

437 posts

194 months

Thursday 17th June 2010
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Definately be a heater hose... Oil weeps from the CAS gasket and weakens the hose...
There are guides on various sites to replacing them, be careful though, the inlets on the bulkhead are copper and can easily be bent and broken.

vdubbin

2,172 posts

220 months

Thursday 17th June 2010
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Mine went a few weeks ago, got the hoses and a stat this morning in the post, so hopefully I can get back on the road before the sun goes away again.

mike9009

Original Poster:

9,567 posts

266 months

Thursday 17th June 2010
quotequote all
Thanks chaps....

ordered the two hoses, clips, coolant and the Cam sensor 'o' ring. Not sure whether the 'o' ring needs replacing or not. Will feed back once I've got it all done...

Mike

Mark-2

1,338 posts

229 months

Thursday 17th June 2010
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mike9009 said:
Thanks chaps....

ordered the two hoses, clips, coolant and the Cam sensor 'o' ring. Not sure whether the 'o' ring needs replacing or not. Will feed back once I've got it all done...

Mike
I would imagine if your heater hoses are buggered the O ring will need replacing

bluetone

2,047 posts

242 months

Friday 18th June 2010
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Feel under the CAS (at the rear of the passenger side cam) and if your hand comes away oily, your O'ring needs replacing.

A common fault.

mike9009

Original Poster:

9,567 posts

266 months

Friday 25th June 2010
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Well the parts from mx5parts finally arrived on Wednesday (unusually slow for mx5parts!!)

Drained radiator, removed dip stick and coil pack. (Didn't take off the washer bottle as some guides recommend - and I can understand the recommendation). Pipes came off relatively easy with pliers, screwdriver and stanley knife. Only awkward bit here was the engine side of hose number 1 had the clip in the 'wrong' direction which made accessing with the pliers fiddly.

Cleaned the stubs and then used some hairspray to help the new pipes on again. Bit of a pain but pretty easy. Little worried about the heater hose number one as it is quite close to the dipstick - will this overheat and degrade? The replacement part is slightly longer than the original??

All tightened up - getting the third bolt back on the coil pack was difficult and probably not done up that securely - but I figured this shouldnt matter.

Filled radiator with coolant and deionised water.

....and the biggest surprise ..... everything worked!

All in, it took 90 minutes for me .... a complete amateur.

Next job to change the 'o' ring.


Mike

J-Tuner

2,855 posts

266 months

Friday 25th June 2010
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Nice one smile

I got to do my O-Ring soon (along with rocker cover gasket) would be interested to hear how you get on and what it was like etc smile

Cheers

Steve

MixxyMatosis

388 posts

192 months

Friday 25th June 2010
quotequote all
"Feel under the CAS (at the rear of the passenger side cam) and if your hand comes away oily, your O'ring needs replacing.

A common fault."

Damn you! I just went out and checked mine off the back of that and got rather messy hehe

And no I haven't figured out how to quote people properly yet. rolleyes

trooperiziz

9,457 posts

275 months

Friday 25th June 2010
quotequote all
J-Tuner said:
Nice one smile

I got to do my O-Ring soon (along with rocker cover gasket) would be interested to hear how you get on and what it was like etc smile

Cheers

Steve
I'm doing this tomorrow, shouldn't be too bad I hope!

bluetone

2,047 posts

242 months

Friday 25th June 2010
quotequote all
trooperiziz said:
J-Tuner said:
Nice one smile

I got to do my O-Ring soon (along with rocker cover gasket) would be interested to hear how you get on and what it was like etc smile

Cheers

Steve
I'm doing this tomorrow, shouldn't be too bad I hope!
Access is tight but it's not a 'mare of a job; have a shufty here..

bluetone

2,047 posts

242 months

Friday 25th June 2010
quotequote all
MixxyMatosis said:
"Feel under the CAS (at the rear of the passenger side cam) and if your hand comes away oily, your O'ring needs replacing.

A common fault."

Damn you! I just went out and checked mine off the back of that and got rather messy hehe

And no I haven't figured out how to quote people properly yet. rolleyes
Better than finding out the way I did, with plumes of steam from a failed No.1 heater hose hehe

NiceCupOfTea

25,534 posts

274 months

Friday 25th June 2010
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Had the heater hose go on mine - fortunately on the way to MOT so got the garage to sort it! Keep an eye on the others - once one hose goes they all start!

trooperiziz

9,457 posts

275 months

Saturday 26th June 2010
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bluetone said:
trooperiziz said:
J-Tuner said:
Nice one smile

I got to do my O-Ring soon (along with rocker cover gasket) would be interested to hear how you get on and what it was like etc smile

Cheers

Steve
I'm doing this tomorrow, shouldn't be too bad I hope!
Access is tight but it's not a 'mare of a job; have a shufty here..
All done, took a couple of hours to do all in all, I did the rocker cover gasket and o-ring at the same time and I'm glad I did. Doing the o-ring without removing the rocker cover would be really fiddly job I would have thought!

Hopefully that should stop the smoke and oil smell that started recently, oil is getting on to the exhaust somehow, and I can't see any other leaks. My o-ring had definitely gone, loads of oil leaking around it.

mike9009

Original Poster:

9,567 posts

266 months

Saturday 26th June 2010
quotequote all
trooperiziz said:
bluetone said:
trooperiziz said:
J-Tuner said:
Nice one smile

I got to do my O-Ring soon (along with rocker cover gasket) would be interested to hear how you get on and what it was like etc smile

Cheers

Steve
I'm doing this tomorrow, shouldn't be too bad I hope!
Access is tight but it's not a 'mare of a job; have a shufty here..
All done, took a couple of hours to do all in all, I did the rocker cover gasket and o-ring at the same time and I'm glad I did. Doing the o-ring without removing the rocker cover would be really fiddly job I would have thought!

Hopefully that should stop the smoke and oil smell that started recently, oil is getting on to the exhaust somehow, and I can't see any other leaks. My o-ring had definitely gone, loads of oil leaking around it.
Any tips on the 'o' ring replacement?

Thanks

Mike

trooperiziz

9,457 posts

275 months

Saturday 26th June 2010
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Not really, it's extremely straight forward as long as you mark the cas so you don't lose your timing smile

bluetone

2,047 posts

242 months

Saturday 26th June 2010
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