Forester Deformed Upper Radiator Hose

[Guest]

While poking around under the hood of my 2003 Forester X, I noticed that
the upper radiator hose was deformed, or crushed inwards. I released the
radiator cap, there was a sucking sound as if under pressure and the hose
popped back to normal. The fluid level was up to the bottom of the
cap/filler neck in the radiator, and at the "full cold" mark in the
reservoir. I cleaned the cap, and blew out the overflow tube to make sure
it wasn't clogged. I ran the car for 25 minutes and noticed that the upper
hose gets hot and hard, while the level in the reservoir doesn't move at
all. After the engine cools for ~45 minutes the upper hose again deforms
some, while the level in the reservoir still doesn't move. The temperature
guage moves to a smidge over the 1/3 mark and sticks there - it didn't move
up or down at all. Is this normal? Cap faulty? Air in the cooling system?

 

[Edward Hayes]

Appears that the cap is faulty or the wrong one. The fluid level in my
overflow goes up as engine heats and drops during engine off. Does the hose
return to normal after sitting all night. You say you blew the hose out but,
is there a clog in the fitting that connects the overflow bottle hose to the
radiator?

 

[Steve Bukosky]

I would think it could only be the radiator cap bad or plugged
recovery tank hose . When the coolant cools, it contracts and should
draw coolant that expanded back into the tank. Unless the hose
material has weakend. Perhaps a service station could pressure test
the cap.

 

[Guest]

It was the cap. Decided to toss $8 at a replacement cap and all is well
now. Thanks for your comments.

 

[JW]

upper
hose gets hot and hard, while the level in the reservoir doesn't move at
all. After the engine cools for ~45 minutes the upper hose again deforms
some, while the level in the reservoir still doesn't move. The
temperature
guage moves to a smidge over the 1/3 mark and sticks there - it didn't
move
up or down at all. Is this normal? Cap faulty? Air in the cooling
system?

Yes, the cap is bad or your overflow tube is pinched. Instead of
collapsing the radiator hose it should have sucked open the little valve
on the cap and pulled liquid from the overflow reservoir. That should
have required much less suction than collapsing the radiator hose.