Engine radiator burst !!!

[Matt]

While driving my EMRIA very gently for around 6km, it suddenly displayed an overheating warning. When I pulled over, I found the antifreeze coolant had competely leaked out. Calling a tow truck ,taking the car to the LOTUS dealerfor inspection. Upon examination, it was confirmed that the cause was a BURST COOLANT HOSE. The vehicle has had 2 oil changes and 17,000km of safe driving so far.

What exactly caused this issue? Was it a material problem， a design flaw, or an assembly error ?

 

[Emira Fan]

That stinks !

I have a faint coolant smell - seems to be emanating from the upper tank, but no signs leaks. I need to really inspect the hoses.....

 

[Matt]

That stinks !

I have a faint coolant smell - seems to be emanating from the upper tank, but no signs leaks. I need to really inspect the hoses.....

It's best to inspect all coolant-ralated hoses. I believe this is not an isolated case. Maybe I have more miles, so the problem started earlier !

 

[MiamiBlue]

That's quite a catastrophic failure of the hose. It does look like a failure of the hose, rather than an assembly error (which would show by a hose coming loose for example).

17K is quite a high mileage for an Emira. Many will be out of warranty when they hit this figure. Hopefully it's a rare event, and not something we'll start to see in 'higher' mileage cars.

With a sample size of one, you can't draw any conclusions.

 

[Citizen]

Really 17k km feels high for the emira ? This is not a supercar , mine is 20k , should I’ll be worried about next months ?

 

[jp129]

I would suspect a material defect in the hose.

That's an abnormal failure considering cooling systems don't operate with very high pressures, typically 16-21 PSI at most. More so when you did not encounter any other cooling related issues until the hose burst.

It is just a reinforced rubber hose, 17K miles is nothing for its anticipated lifecycle, IMO.

 

[Nova]

This is an I4 right?

 

[frazzer]

I had a fuel leak after a week of sitting in a garage! car has only 4k miles. Car was towed to dealer and fixed a few days ago. V6 FE.

 

[jp129]

I had a fuel leak after a week of sitting in a garage! car has only 4k miles. Car was towed to dealer and fixed a few days ago. V6 FE.

Where or what was the leak identified as? O-ring failure, hose failure, or loosened connection somewhere?

 

[frazzer]

Where or what was the leak identified as? O-ring failure, hose failure, or loosened connection somewhere?

I'll find out more when I pick it up next week, the fix was followed up with a service

 

[ADC]

I would suspect a material defect in the hose.

That's an abnormal failure considering cooling systems don't operate with very high pressures, typically 16-21 PSI at most. More so when you did not encounter any other cooling related issues until the hose burst.

It is just a reinforced rubber hose, 17K miles is nothing for its anticipated lifecycle, IMO.

Agree, though looking at the picture, and the fact the split is lengthways rather than across the hose, makes me wonder if it accidentally got slashed with a box cutter (when unpacking a bunch at the factory).

 

[jp129]

Agree, though looking at the picture, and the fact the split is lengthways rather than across the hose, makes me wonder if it accidentally got slashed with a box cutter (when unpacking a bunch at the factory).

That's a very good theory, very plausible. I don't think I've ever seen hoses burst in that manner organically, but my sample size is small.

Usually it's a small split by outside radiuses or where there's trauma from clamps, chaffing, etc.