I've noticed after driving my car the next day the top radiator hose is collapsed.
I open the cap and it pops right back to normal. The coolant is toped off. Is this normal? If not what could be causing it?

 

That's definitely not normal. Mine doesn't do that. Don't know enough about radiators to tell what is causing that, but definitely it is due to some kind of vacuum.

 

As the car cools, the water contracts and the pressure drops. Because the radiator hose is old and weak, it is collapsing. A new hose would be stiff and resist the force that the vacuum is exerting. If it's getting weak enough to collapse, chances are it's weak enough to burst. Time for a new one.

 

The car is a 06 w only 16k miles??? You think it's worn out already?

 

Radiator Water doesn't contract. It's a liquid. Liquids don't compress, but air does (I think Dave might mean air). There might be some air in your radiator. Perhaps a simple flush or drain will do the trick. Take it to your local 10-minute oil change station and ask for a $30-$70 radiator flush or drain it and fill it again yourself.
Also, it is hard to tell from the picture, but that hose does not look healthy (and if your car does that, it probably has been stressing the hose so much that it should be replaced anyhow).

 

It's only done it since the TT install. About 2200 miles. I'll switch it when I change my radiator IF I EVER GET THE DAMN THING!!! I guess it's been on back order for 2 months now.

 

o rly? Diesel Engine?....lol i know what you mean

 

Normally, no. With the extra heat load of a turbo, then yes it might be prematurely weakening.

 

If the radiator water doesn't expand and contract, then why does every car made in the last 30+ years have a radiator overflow tank???? Next time you go out one morning when the engine is cold, look at the water level of that catch tank. It should be around the low/cold mark. Drive the car around for an hour until it's good and hot then look at the level. It should be up around the high/hot mark. Park it over night and check the level again and I'll bet it will be back at the low/cold mark.

You're thinking that water is incompressable. That means that it doesn't compress and expand like air does (i.e. pressure change). Water and just about every other fluid easily expands and contracts under heating and cooling.

-- that concludes my Mr. Wizard lesson for the day.

 

Diesels engines don't compress the liquid fuel. The air is compressed then the diesel is injected into the cylinder. It's not like a gas engine where the fuel goes in with the air and then gets compressed.

 

squeeze the hose, if its soft, time for a new one. (compare it with the other hose

 

Indeed. The liquids change in volume when the temp changes. The only think\g I'd like to add is that water alone actually acts opposite to what you'd think it would do. As temps drop, water actually expands. That's why frozen pipes burst in winter. IIRC, water is unique in that property as all other liquids contract as temps go down. Since most have other additives in the coolant other that just pure water, the coolant contracts because of them and doesn't expand when it's cold, which is what it would do if you just had water in it. Just wanted to add that to the info

My guess is that there is some air in the system to cause the hose to collapse. Like I said, it's just a guess.

 

Lots of guys with FI get air in their cooling system. They seem to think it's from some kind of minor head lift of something. So they purge the air from the cooling system every few days.

You can purge the cooling system here:

 

Thanks Goth. I'll try that too.

 

Ok, I bleed the system today and it still did it. Some thing I noticed that I didn't before, I guess I have no over flow now. Does the Greddy kit not relocate it or something? All I have it the hose with a screw in it now.

 

I don't think it's supposed to look like that. A smaller aftermarket overflow can might not be out of the question for your setup.

 

Yup, that would be your problem there. You are certainly risking overpressuring the coolant system. Remember, the radiator cap has a pressure rating, once the pressure gets past that, water is released to the overflow tank. As the system cools, water is sucked back into the radiator from the overflow.

Since your's is plugged with no place for the pressure to go, my guess is that when the car is running, the extra pressure is stretching the hoses making them weaker. When it cools, the hoses contract - more so than normal.

I'd be more concerned about there being no relief "valve" for the system. The high radiator pressure could pop that hose loose or worse, something in the radiator or some other part/hose/bypass.

 

Great! So I guess the overflow has to be removed for the TT KIT, what the hell do they expect you to do? Can I buy an extra one or something?

 

OK so I found out the kit was suppose to come with a overflow, but since I bought my kit used, I didn't get it. Just my luck. Anyway, I work on streetbikes and have lots of spare parts lying around. I've got a few overflows that might work. What's the smallest one I could use?