I was driving when all of a sudden as I came to a stop I saw smoke coming from the hood and smelled coolant (temps were around 210 degrees). I shut the car off and examined the engine bay and couldn't see anything out of place except coolant all around the passenger side headlight area. So not knowing what else to look for, I filled it up w/ water, took about 4 big wendy's cupfulls. I start her back up and that's when I see the leak (leak is being nice) this thing was gushing out from where the hose connects the radiator to the Throttle body. I examine the hose and it appears for some reason there is a metal piece inserted in the rubber hose to go into the radiator port. Long story short, I could put it back in but it didn't fit snug so I rigged up some string to hold the hose steady in the radiator but it still has a slight leak (worked well enough to get it home without going above 200 degrees)

Has anyone ever heard of this? *Remember this is where the hose connects to the radiator not where it connects to the throttle body.

What are my options? I was thinking possibly doing the coolant bypass mod. Any advice would be great. I'm taking the car to my mechanic tomorrow morning.

 

Sorry for your problem. A photo might help to explain what happened.

 

I have had that hose off and don't remember a metal insert. The GM hose has two different diameters, the larger being the one on the radiator. Are you sure the radiator piece didn't break off inside the hose and that is what you see. When the radiator side of the hose is removed, there is a plastic barb sticking out of the radiator.

 

1SlowZo .... you need to fill out your profile ... there is no way to know what year or features you have, which makes looking info up difficult.

I'm gonna ASSUME you have a Z06 (based on your name) ... If you have an automatic you need different parts ....

vettenuts is correct, there should be a "fitting" or "barb" sticking out of the radiator that the Throttle Body hose slips over and then clamps too. That's probably what you see inside the hose.

If you can work the fitting out, try and see if you can replace it in the radiator and get it to seal. Right now you have a hole in your radiator tank, and until you fix that, worrying about doing the throttle body bypass is a waste of time (and the bypass buys you nothing anyway).

If you can't get the fittting to seal, it appears that you cannot order it seperately. Looks like, in the parts book drawing it is an integral part of the radiator outlet tank. The good news is you can purchase just the tank (with gasket) and repair the radiator, rather than having to replace the whole radiator assembly. The GM part number is 52477361 ... but VERIFY that for your vehicle .... since I don't know what you have.

 

Curious how many miles on the car that your having hose problems? Picture of the problem would be helpful if you have a digital camera

 

Hey guys I appreciate all the responses. I took it in today and yall were correct. After removing the shroud we noticed the entire plastic nipple coming off the radiator was broke off. However, this problem occured becuase someone had broke it prior to yesterday and tried to patch it. From the looks of it, the nipple had broken off so they took a metal fitting and put it in the rubber hose and used some kind of sealant and fitted that into the endtank on the radiator that was missing the nipple.

Luckily for me, my mechanic had a spare z06 radiator that we put in and it worked like a charm afterwards. Also, while on the lift we noticed that the rear driver's side axle seal was leaking and also my aftermarket headers was melting through the passenger side ac line. All the above issues were taken care of today at a ...reasonable price...

Overall, this was the first time I had the z06 looked at since I purchased it about a week ago and I'm glad i took it in before something really bad happened (broken diff., overheating/ruining the motor, etc..) I also changed out the diff fluid, tranny fluid, engine oil, and coolant today. I feel really good that the car is now in tip top shape and I still know this was the best purchase I've made thus far in my life!!