[DeTomaso] Food for Thought - how old are your coolant hoses?

[Charles McCall]

While browsing Pantera Place, I saw an article about changing the coolant
hoses and it got me thinking...

The end of summer is just around the bend, and Winter will be here before
you know it. Many will be drawing up a list of tasks to be done while the
car is off the road. Question - when did you last change your coolant
hoses? Do you even know?

I attended an event in northern Spain in June, where I had the incredibly
good or bad luck, depending on how you look at it, of having a coolant hose
split on me literally as I was parking in the parking spot of the hotel.
I missed one day of the two-day event, hanging out in a garage that was
hastily located and the people were good enough to drop what they were
doing and source a replacement and change it for me. I was darn lucky to
find a shop that I felt confident in and they were willing to help. In the
case of my car, I replaced all the hoses a few years back, but apparently
the hose that burst was the only one not changed. Go figure. So it's
"best-if-used-by" date was reached and exceded, and is proof that it is
important.

During the Swedish/Danish tour a few weeks ago, one of the participants
spend many unhappy hours in various parking lots as one hose per day split
on him. Tomas Gunnarsson brought a ton of spares, which this poor soul used
up one hose at a time. The first time you pull a bulkhead in a gas station
parking lot and start changing hoses on a hot car it can just be an
anecdote. But it becomes annoying and frustrating very quickly if you do it
every single day, and sometimes twice on the same day. I won't say that it
completely ruined the trip for him, but it sure put a damper on it.

So the question to the Collective is - have you changed your radiator hoses
recently? Should you? It doesn't get a lot of press, but it can really ruin
your day if it isn't done from time to time.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program....
-------------- next part --------------
   While browsing Pantera Place, I saw an article about changing the
   coolant hoses and it got me thinking...
   A
   The end of summer is just around the bend, and Winter will be here
   before you know it. Many will be drawing up a list of tasks to be done
   while the car is off the road. Question - when did you last change your
   coolant hoses? Do you even know?
   A
   I attended an event in northern Spain in June, where I had the
   incredibly good or bad luck, depending on how you look at it, of having
   a coolant hose split on me literally as I was parking in the parking
   spot of the hotel. IA missed one day of the two-day event, hanging out
   in a garage that was hastily located and the people were good enough to
   drop what they were doing and source a replacement and change it for
   me. I was darn lucky to find a shop that I felt confident in and they
   were willing to help. In the case of my car, I replaced all the hoses a
   few years back, but apparently the hose that burst was the only one not
   changed. GoA figure.A So it's "best-if-used-by" date was reached and
   exceded, and is proof that it is important.
   A
   During the Swedish/Danish tour a few weeks ago, one of the participants
   spend many unhappy hours in various parking lots as one hose per day
   split on him. Tomas Gunnarsson brought a ton of spares, which this poor
   soul used up one hose at a time. The first time you pull a bulkhead in
   a gas station parking lot and start changing hoses on a hot car it can
   just be an anecdote. But it becomes annoying and frustrating very
   quickly if you do it every single day, and sometimes twice on the same
   day. I won't say that it completely ruined the trip for him, but it
   sure put a damper on it.
   A
   So the question to the Collective is - have you changed your radiator
   hoses recently? Should you? It doesn't get a lot of press, but it can
   really ruin your day if it isn't done from time to time.
   A
   We now return you to your regularly scheduled program....