coolant explosion
 

title says most of it. i blew a hose off my motor and soaked the whole engine bay with coolant. luckily i was about 3 blocks from my house and i was able to limp home before it overheated... what if anything do i need to worry about before i start up the car... will i need for the coolant to dry up before i start to protect from a short in the electrical system? etc... i know the obvious to bleed the coolant system... the hose that blew off was the one right under the distributor, so it SOAKED everything... is this common in a z6... i hope not. anything to keep it from doing it again?

thanks in advance.

dang bro that blows my z6 hasnot ever done anything like that looks like u just had bad luck

Disconnect the battery. Next, check the distributor, plug wires, fuse box, and all electrical connectors under the hood. Use some compressed air to dry off eveything electrical that may be wet before trying to restart the engine.

No, that is not a common problem, that is a result of an error from installation. Do as RonJ suggested. When topping off the coolant, keep pouring and squeezing the upper and lower hoses until all the air is out of the system, then recheck it after a quick start up.

alright well, i was able to start assessing the damage today and well, it looks like i gotta go buy a new air filter... or wait for a week for it to dry. there is coolant in the short ram tubing so im guessing it made it into the engine as well.. distributor is good and so are most of the connections... other than the wires still being soaked... now any precautions for having coolant in my engine? hydrolock? or should i be fine?

with the small ammount of coolant i wouldnt worry about any hydroloc... BUT IF IN DOUBT if you havent already already turned the motor over afew times... if you have dont worry about it. but if you havent then simply pull all 4 spark plugs and unplug the distributor harness plug.
then simply hit the starter for a few seconds and that will push any fluid still in the cylinders. then just put everything back.
but i highly doubt it to be a problem.

so just buy a new filter and such and keep driven ;)

Toss the wet air filter and install a new one after you clean off free coolant in the intake. Pull a plug and look into the cylinder chamber with a flashlight to check for possible coolant inside.

alright, ill check at some point in time today, whenever it stops raining enough to push my car in the garage... if there is coolant then pull the rest of the plugs and distributor plug and turn the key a couple times? or is it more in depth?

That should do it.

i doubt theres any coolant in the system at least not enough to be any problem. if you where driving when the line blew and continued to drive with it spraying coolant until it was dry... your worst chance to have hydrolocked it would have been when it first blew and you kept driving it.... anything left is only a thin coating left over.
i doubt its anything to worry about since you kept driving it.

Yeah, thats what my buddy said today too when i went to the shop to borrow some tools since all mine are up in Saint Louis and i teach/ live in Columbia... hey do you think it would be okay to just wash the filter.. i forgot its a K&N or did the antifreeze completely ruin it? if its totaled ill just pick up a cone one tomorrow.

im still wondering why it caused the hose to blow off too... i've had that motor in for about 6 months now and the only thing i've done recently (this past week) is to clean the FITV to fix my idling issues... could an air pocket have done that??.. maybe i need to pressure test my radiator cap... any other ideas?

it might have just not been tight enough on the clamp.....
and over time it just finaly worked its way off...

well.. i think i found the problem! i went to add the coolant so i could get her running again and well i saw this!

Attachment 22178

TASTY!

Attachment 22179

sweet huh? i was lazy any didnt want to fix my return water neck about a week ago because it was leaking coolant when i drove on the highway. i figured the minor leak could be fixed by the Bar's block seal stop leak (the expensive one that you can use with coolant), and on the back it states it can fix any leak.. well i guess the pressure regulator on my radiator cap was considered a leak too. and that is why the hose blew off... long story short.. DONT BE LAZY and dont use the stop leak.... now time to contact Bar's

Bars Leaks is a good emergency fix if you're in the middle of nowhere; I've had to use it once on a company truck, when I was back to civilization I got a flush and got the leak addressed.

yeah, i figured that one out.. im gonna fix the neck today or tomorrow since i dont have any coolant in it, then fill it up and take it to get flushed.

take it to get flushed.... hell just take off a few more hoses and bust out the garden hose to flush the system yourself ;) thats very easy to do just takes time...

and ya i never use that stop leak stuff for anything anymore. its better off to just put afew jugs of water in the back or mixture if in the winter and keep filling it up until you get it repaired properly. that stuff just clogs up your heater core and your heat output will suck!

which hoses do i need to take off exactly? the upper and lower radiator hoses? ive never flushed a system before... the shop has always done it for my truck. and here's another stupid question. they still sell liquid gasket at autozone? i looked and couldnt find it, or will something else work so i can fix the water outlet neck?

does the neck have a hole in it? if so id replace it.... or if you can pull it off to get to the back side of the hole get some 2part stick epoxy... they have some that works great with high temps and its like a putty. simply mix the stick with your hands till its mixed all the way and simply apply the stuff to the front and the back of the holes pressing it in the best you can and around the area a bit.... then just let it dry for afew hours and bolt it back on.
but its still just a temp repair....

ive used it afew times on friends cars and even at work on our steam tables that had holes and leaking thru. it works pretty good but buying a good piece is the best thing to do...

as to flushing the system very easy... take off the thermostat case and then take off the other heater hose and simply shove the hose on the one heater hose and let it flow thru and then simply take both main hoses off the radiator and put the hose on the top and let it flow to get the most out of it simply pull the top radiator mount and unplug the fan motor wires and simply pull the radiator out and flow the water thru both hoses upside down and laying flat... blablabla ;) and simply shove the hose onto the motor as well... with the thermostat removed it will flow right thru.... and after most of it is clear then you can always put all the hoses back on will it up with just water, start the motor up and put the heat on full blast let it cycle thru a bit then turn the motor off and let it cool.... then simply remove the drain plug on the radiator and let it all drain then just refill with coolant and youll be good and have the best flush to remove all that stop leak gunk...
most likely your shop will jsut do a quick flush which will still leave alot of that junk inside the system.

there isnt a hole in the neck.. there's a hole in the "liquid gasket" between the block and the water outlet. so it leaks down the front of the engine... think i should replace the thermostat while im at it? im thinkin it might be just as bad now because if the radiator cap looked like that, then i wonder what the thermostat, IACV and FITV will look like... and i just cleaned my IACV and FITV. or should the flush get it hopefully? looks like i have alot to do on my hands the next couple of nights... i think im gonna call Bar's tomorrow and inform them that their product is crap.

BY THE WAY: thank you to everyone that has helped me so far. i really appreciate it.