my coolant hoses keep on cracking due to pressure

[gossbeau]

A month ago I was driving my car hard on the freeway and suddently I saw the temperature go all the way up. I got out the car and I saw the lots of coolant on the floor...A lot. it was coming out from the overfill bottle I think. Well i had to tow my car home. Because I didn t wanna drive it like that. My mechaninc came to check it out and told me that I had to replace the radiator cap housing as well as the radiator cap what I did.(I don t mention that before doing all that I cleaned my radiator and check that the fan was working properly) A couple days after that I didn t have the same problem but something else. My car was leaking again a lot from different coolant hoses that cracked. I fixed them but now I can still see small leaks coming from all the weak points under my car. One thing for sure, there is too much pressure in my coolant system and that s what make all my hoses crack one by one. My mechanic told me it was the head gasket and that I needed to replace it. The broken head gasket leads to compression problems that results in too much air and pressure in my coolant system. I tried to flush it and to bleed it properly but after a hard drive I could feel all the hoses beeing ready to collapse again. Now I m scared to drive my car too far. I know that the hoses can crack on me anytime. The thing is that I constantly get leaks from those hoses but the water temperature is normal on the gauge.
The head gasket job will cost me $1400 just for the labor what I don t have so I was wondering if there weren't any other possibilities that I could try before that. Thermostat?? air bleeder valves?? water pump???
I m really upset right now because my car doesn't run properly.
SO if you could please help me out It would be very nice of you
thank you very much

[ac427cpe]

... how old are the hoses?

[JekylandHyde]

If your hedgasket is blowm, chances are you would see traces of coolant in your oil ... or traces of oil in your coolant. When you open up your radiator cap, are you seeing any oil?

If your headgasket is blown, and the engine is producing extra pressure in the coolant system, I could almost gaurantee you that it would also be overheating.

Sounds to me like you just have old hoses.

There is a hose that is refered to as the HFH (Hose From Hell). It sits between the turbocharger and the block ... it is a pain to get to (hence the name).
It is relatively common for it to fail and it blow coolant out right next to the block ... which may lead someone to falsely think it is the headgasket.

I'd start there if your symptoms are as I describe.

*side note: $1400 for a headgasket swap is highway robbbery.

[gossbeau]

ac427cpe, the hoses on my car must be like 13 years old now. the thing is that once I fixed the cracked ones, I can see other weak points leaking from under my car. For instance in the front of my car by the radiator or in the middle where that big clamp holds the big hose to the metal tube. there is no holes in them but coolant leaks out for some reason.

[JekylandHyde]

You asked about your thermostat in your e-mail ... If your thermostat was stuck closed, you would overheat rather quickly.
If your thermostat was stuck open, your car would take forever to come up to proper operating temperature.

It could just be as simple as you have really old hoses that are failing.

[JekylandHyde]

You can your questions in here ... no need for e-mail I rather post here so anyone having similar problems can learn too.

You mentioned a new radiator cap ... I am running a 21.5 psi TRD cap. I assure you that is more pressure than stock. Of course, my hoses are also 197,000 miles old?!

As for the headgasket, I wouldn't be surprised at 1/2 the cost you quoted. I suspect that was a dealer quote?
I suspect I would pay around $400-$550 for a HG replacement.