BEWARE Autobahn88 water hoses.

Hi guys

A bit of a heads up here.

As a part of johnnys big twin build he supplied a set of Autobahn88 top and bottom water hoses for the car.

Now after the oil pump was changed I've used the car a bit to put some miles on it. On the way home from work yesterday morning the bottom water hose split. And I'm not just talking a little split either it tore almost right around the hessian line in the hose, throwing all the coolant out of the engine in seconds. Luckly I was only doing about 40mph and turned the car off instantly and coasted to a stop.

My dad came and towed me home.

I finished work at 5AM this morning and began an inspection of the hose etc as soon as I got in. Like I said it was a clean tear almost right around the hose. Which leads me to believe the hose was faulty.

I've removed the small section of split hose and looking closely there was very fine grooved following the path of the hessian inside the hose upto where it split.

I'm hoping there has been no other damage due to the car dumping all it's coolant. I've sorted the hose filmed the car up with water (incase there is anything wrong I don't waste 2 more tubs of coolant), I'll bleed off the engine and do a sniff test to check the head gasket.

Just a heads up forcyou guys. As there may have been a faulty batch of some sort or the hoses in general may just be shite.

Cheers

John

oh dear, not good! hope it all works out..

John,

If it was a purchased faulty hose I would photograph it, keep it, and notify the manufacturer. If (god forbid) it later turned out that the manufacturing fault had caused significant damage to your engine then you could then revert back to them for recompense.

not good mate, can you contact the manufacturer and tell them about the defect?

F@ck it... thanks for the info! I was just about to buy the same for my VVTi!!!

I've cut the split piece off the hose and clamped it the hose back on. Filled it with water and bled it off. I've done a sniff test and u think the head gasket may be gone :-(

Bad times.

The engine would need to run for many minutes without coolant, to get hot enough to warp the head. It would be sizzly, crackly hot and smelly. I doubt vry much if the coolant dump followed by immediate turn off could do any harm at all, save make a mess.

Oh man that is just messed up I'm gutted for you and johnny.

You have to get in contact with the manufacturer as they are responsible for this.

damn, thats not good i have their top hose on mine so i'll be keeping an eye on it but its been there 2 years without problems so yours probably had some fault with it

The engine would need to run for many minutes without coolant, to get hot enough to warp the head. It would be sizzly, crackly hot and smelly. I doubt vry much if the coolant dump followed by immediate turn off could do any harm at all, save make a mess.

I've done a sniff test chris and the solution cows from blue to a dark green. I've also ran the car with the rad cap on and you can here the water bubbling in the rad when I turn the engine off and the too rad pipe goes hard too.

I don't really want to have to strip this down again.

Are you sure the thing hadn't had a gasket problem earlier and over pressurised the system, maybe with a higher than stock pressure cap on it, thus splitting what was probably a less burst proof than ideal hose? I would wager the burst point of an aging stock rad hose is higher than most new el cheapo silicone ones. It ain't going to fix itself mate.... We all have jobs in like this every now an again I can't believe a head gasket would fail in seconds.

This is exactly why I would never fit cheap Taiwanese or Chinese products on my car.... Just for the sake of peace of mind I have always gone for the Japanese or US tried and tested products. It might cost a bit more intially but it least you have confidence that the product is going to perform 99% of the time and at least you have some come back if the products do fail. Don't think the Chinese etc will want to know if their product fails....

Feel for you John.....Bad Times.

I've had them before and they were fine, I've also bought them again for the TT, tbh, it sounds like a possible faulty one combined with a water pressure problem, a hose splitting will not automatically do any damage, you would have to(as chris said) run it for a few minuites longer and let the temps go high.

They come with a lifetime warranty though.

Are you sure the thing hadn't had a gasket problem earlier and over pressurised the system, maybe with a higher than stock pressure cap on it, thus splitting what was probably a less burst proof than ideal hose? I would wager the burst point of an aging stock rad hose is higher than most new el cheapo silicone ones. It ain't going to fix itself mate.... We all have jobs in like this every now an again I can't believe a head gasket would fail in seconds.

The car was fine when Ryan came up to map it a few weeks ago, until the front seal failed, (origional oil pump 193,000km on it). Changed the pump and drove it home from my friends garage again all was fine. I swapped over the top water elbow as it has a small weep in 1 of the fittings. I drove it to work and on the way back that's when the pipe blew. Temps never went over 1/2 on the stock gauge.