Damn car!

On Tuesday night my car decided to blow a radiator hose on the way home.  It must have gone not far from home as the temperature gauge didn't hit the redline and I didn't cook the old girl.

I ordered the replacement hose the next day but due to the dealer stuffing up the order I didn't get the hose until Saturday.  This meant that I rode the V-Strom to work and around (and got hosed on on Thursday) for the rest of the week which was fun but there were a couple of times that I could have used the car...

So, on Saturday afternoon I fitted the new hose.  This was the hardest bit as it takes a bit to get them on over the pipe inlet/outlets.  To do it I had to clean the gunk of the fitting and then lube up the inside of the hose with a bit of detergent.  It was still a mission and I ended up with a good few nicks and scrapes on my fingers and knuckles.

Then I topped up the radiator with fresh coolant and let it sit for a bit.  An hour or so later I came back and checked to see if the level had dropped.  It hadn't so I fired the car up and let it run for a few minutes.  While it was running I checked that the thermostat was working by checking that the return hoses got warm.  All good there so I shut her down and let things settle down again.

After another half an hour or so I checked the coolant level again and as it hadn't moved I went for a short drive to the supermarket and back.  The temperature got up to about normal and the car seemed to behave itself so I guess she's all good now.  I still think I'll keep an eye on the coolant for the next week or so.