Sprintcyclist wrote on Dec 28
th, 2023 at 11:33pm:
Thanks guys. I agree all the hoses should be changed. If that one had 'changed', others are close to that too.
New water pump is a good idea, I asked the garage about one 3 years ago, it was ok then. It had a new alternator , radiator and tensioner pulley about 3 years ago.
Could be a good list for the next garage visit.
1/ replace air inlet hoses where possible.
2/ Install new water pump. (Preventative maintenance)
3/ Stop oil weep around rocker box.
4/ New spark plugs due?
They should have put new radiator hoses in when replacing radiator if so they should be ok.
Heater hoses use coolant from engine to firewall about inch thick they would be the weak part of cooling system.
It's consequences of failure to consider.
With coolant leaks it's engine meltdown if you don't turn engine off.
Vacum hose failing means engine running rough misfires etc at less than 10% throttle opening and idle, provided you're not driving hundreds of km you can get home.
There is a thicker vacum hose to brake booster if that fails you lose power assist meaning brake pedal needs double to 5 times force to get it to stop.
We should be able to rule out what you have replaced.
The water pump will get really noisy before it fails i wouldn't replace that just yet. Older cars (70s-80s) with engine driven fan on water pump could send fan blades into radiator when pump failed. Modern cars have electric fans it doesn't happen with them.
It depends how much rocker cover gasket it leaking if it's only a little bit i wouldn't worry. Sometimes nipping bolts up a little tighter cures it. Modern cars have rubber gasket they're really good older cars had cork ones that didn't last.
Spark plugs last a lot longer in modern cars better materials in them the longer lasting ones cost more so if car isn't misfiring i wouldn't replace them. EFI means car runs better for clean burning so plugs last much longer.
As for the noise open the bonnet get someone to hold revs in range where you hear it and follow where noise is coming from. If you can hear it while driving you should be able to trace it with bonnet open. If you locate source of noise and don't know what it is post a pic.
If your dashboard lights up with faults for engine gearbox or ABS SRS etc some Supercheap Auto shops do diagnostic scanning for around $30 takes about 10 minutes they will give you printout with fault codes and what is wrong. It's the cheapest option for diagnostic scanning most charge around $80-150 with Mercedes being the worst around $330 to plug scanner in to tell you what is wrong.