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I just bought a LS460, unfortunately from a Mercedes Dealer. They did go through the entire car and found a leaking radiator and replaced some hoses as well as the radiator. I don't really know exactly which hoses were replaced. This weekend was the first week I had the car and I just did my own inspection. I found on the passenger side, right behind the radiator, a radiator hose, it looks like it is going from the engine to the bottom passenger side of the radiator. It comes from the engine going down, then it bends going forward then bends going down and then forward again attaching to the radiator. At all bends it seems from looking down that the hose is kinked and actually looks like it is kinked flat. Look at the images below, the arrows are pointing to the bends and flat spots. The picture is taken looking down from above the engine. What is going on here? Does anyone have any pictures of this hose to reference? Should it bend like this?
Can't really fully see how kinked it is. Maybe you can take off the bottom cover and snap a few shots from below? It is either put on backwards or they used a Mercedes hose they had in stock that they figure was close enough.
Well they inspected it today and said all looks fine. I was just wondering if anyone on the board has had a good look at this hose to let me know if this is the standard appearance as it is an "S" shaped hose...
Well they inspected it today and said all looks fine. I was just wondering if anyone on the board has had a good look at this hose to let me know if this is the standard appearance as it is an "S" shaped hose...
This is a common problem, but at least you sorted it out quickly. I had a similar issue when I changed out my upper and lower hoses. The one similar to yours was also kinked and obviously too long (causing the kink). Even though the part numbers were the same on the hose, it was clear that the hoses differed. The correct hose was about an inch shorter a the end that attached to the rad.
I would make sure the correct hose with no kinks is installed. A kink in the hose will restrict the flow and with the hotter weather coming you need your cooling system in tip top shape.
Yeah, I think the Mercedes tech obviously does not know what he is looking at. I just wanted to get my car out of there. The temperature seems to be fine, I'm watching it closely. I will jack up the car next weekend and verify for myself. bummer is that if I do want to replace it I am going to basically have to change out all of the coolant, that was just changed, what a waste. I'm going to have to do a search and find the procedure, as i'm sure there is something special I will have to do to get the air out of the lines.
Went to the dealer this afternoon, while it was on the lift they were showing me some things, I then asked about the hose, he took off the skid plate and you could see it perfectly, not one kink! It must be the angle or something. The hose was perfectly round, the tech said it was in perfect shape. Problem solved.... there was no problem.
Kinked Radiator Hose?
