elizabethhayes•25d agoMost Upvoted

Had a coolant hose burst on me in the middle of a 3 AM tow on I-80

I was hauling a broken down dump truck back to the yard near Des Moines when the lower radiator hose let go. Steam was pouring out so thick I couldn't see the dash, and I ended up pulling over on a gravel shoulder with no cell service. Had to patch it with a roll of electrical tape and a Gatorade bottle to make it the last 15 miles - got me thinking, what's the weirdest field fix anyone else has had to pull off?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_fiona25d ago

Holding a Gatorade bottle over a burst hose with electrical tape is rough but it works in a pinch. Next time keep a roll of self-fusing silicone tape in your glove box, it handles heat and pressure way better than electrical tape. Throw a spare hose in your toolbox too, that 15 mile gamble can turn into a 50 mile tow real quick.

alicecooper22d ago

Point out to me where that self-fusing silicone tape actually seals a pressurized hose in the real world though. I tried that stuff once on a radiator hose and it just peeled off after 10 miles because the coolant was still leaking underneath. @kaid59 probably had the right idea with metal bottles, at least those dont turn into a sticky mess when the engine bay hits 200 degrees. What kind of heat rating does your silicone tape actually have, because the stuff I bought says it handles 220 but the packaging has no real testing info.

kaid5925d ago

Figured out the hard way that Gatorade bottles melt if the hose is too hot. Maybe keep a couple metal water bottles around instead, they hold up way better to engine temps.