Intermittent overheating and hose bulged

Tiny
STXHAMMER
  • MEMBER
  • 2002 FORD EXPLORER
  • V6
  • 4WD
  • 177,000 MILES
I have been having an issue where sporadically the SUV would overheat and leak coolant. It looks like it’s just the hose cause it’s bulged (pic below), but could it also be the gasket inside the housing? Just trying to fix all the issues at once and not one at a time. Thanks in advance
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Tuesday, July 28th, 2020 AT 7:28 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
AL514
  • MECHANIC
  • 5,509 POSTS
Hello,

Is it overheating even after you refill it with coolant? A quick check you can do is, when the vehicle is cold, like first thing in the morning, is leave the radiator cap off and start the car and watch for bubbles coming out of the radiator. This indicates that combustion gases are getting into the coolant system from a head gasket problem. Here are a few more indications and tests of a bad head gasket. That hose may be blown up like that due to a head gasket problem as well.
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/head-gasket-blown-test
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/symptoms-of-an-overheating-engine
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/radiator-pressure-test
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Tuesday, July 28th, 2020 AT 8:47 AM
Tiny
STXHAMMER
  • MEMBER
  • 47 POSTS
Overheating while hot or cold after refilling? Like yesterday when it occurred I filled it up with water and looked like some of said water was coming out from the gasket area of the housing. Would it be better to just replace the hose and full thermostat housing?
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Tuesday, July 28th, 2020 AT 10:57 AM
Tiny
AL514
  • MECHANIC
  • 5,509 POSTS
What I mean is; does it over heat after you have filled it full with coolant? Or is it just overheating because it's running out of coolant? And like I said, when the car is cold, open the radiator cap and watch for any bubbles. That would indicate a bad head gasket. I wouldn't bother replacing the thermostat or anything until you figure out if you have a bad head gasket. If it has been overheated multiply times, most likely the head gasket went bad and possibly warped the cylinder head also.
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Tuesday, July 28th, 2020 AT 11:30 AM

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