do NOT mess with old car's coolant hoses when hot

Ouch. Glad hands not face

 

Advise duly noted.
Thanks for sharing

 

Cannot imagine how very painful this was.......
Hope you heal completely.

 

Yikes!

 

Ouch. Yeah, I was driving briskly on a warm day in my then new-to-me 355, and got caught by a random rain cloud. When the water started through the decklid, a coolant hose popped with a huge plume of steam. I replaced all hoses then with nice Dave Helms silicone hoses.

 

I wasted money on exactly ONE Ferrari hose, that started leaking again. I started doing a progressive replacement of the hoses using the reinforced silicone Summit Racing hoses. 10x the quality of the crappy Ferrari ones at a quarter of the price. Takes a little work to match them but worth it. Any aftermarket "solutions" that claim to be specifically for Ferraris are just the same thing in a package, marked up with a less ridiculous Ferrari tax, making them look like a good deal.

 

Wow, people don't just pull an offending hose and go match it up at the auto parts store? I mean the folks that do their own work. Obviously if you drop it off at the dealer they will charge you for the Ferrari one (and likely do the same thing).

 

Don't do that either. They really should be high temp silicone, not cheap rubber like you find at Autozone. You'd be amazed at how many will spend 4 digits at the dealer for something that can be done in a garage with hand tools for 50 bucks and a couple beers.

 

It's been my practice to change all the coolant hoses at the major service. The 5 year life time cycle makes sure that they don't bust at the least opportune time. I just walk down to Oreillly's and tell them to match up the two 90 degree ones. Buy stock coolant hoses for the straight ones. And the 1 5/8 inch (41mm) Gates hoses for the larger ones. I really do not believe in the Uber Performance Scuderia Rampante hoses.

 

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately those hoses don't last forever, but there are options. I had one fail and had to get a tow home. I had a guy try telling me I should drop 4k and get them all professionally replaced at FNA like he did and that it was the smart thing to do. I went to a race car parts place nearby and for $8 I got a much superior hose to the one that failed. It was worn down due to the upper trans mount being worn. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login