Life expectancy of coolant hoses?

[Chrisn]

I have been reading up on all of the recent and very informative threads regarding the cooling system and low temp t-stat and am planning to put one in my 99 boxster this winter along with the S oil cooler. However, since the vehicle is now 10 years old, I just realized that I still have the original hoses (they still look good - outside at least) and coolant in the vehicle. Therefore, I am curious to hear what the opinions are regarding the life expectancy of the coolant hoses as I am now a little concerned that age and the 100 plus degrees in Phoenix may stress them and cause them to fail.

Thanks,
Chris

[Lil bastard]

You cannot rely on a visual inspection. Hoses, like most rubber parts, have a reliable service life of 5-7 yrs. You can always gamble and address each as the need arises. But, since you'll usually get stranded in the rain, or on the way to the airport, a date, or a job interview when one of them lets loose, replacing them along with the other work would get my vote. Also, be sure to include new worm-type clamps as Porsche recommends changing over to these from the oem spring-type if doing any cooling system repair.

[jmatta]

I wondered about the same topic when I changed my coolant this year and updated the car with the LN t-stat; the car is seven years old with 15k miles.

The hoses I had to pull were in excellent condition, without cracks or any sign of hardness. Probably lack of miles and heat, but as LB said, hoses don't last forever. Your car being a little older, it would likely be wise to address the issue since you need to drain the coolant anyway (that was the biggest pain of the project).

[Chrisn]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking it was probably time once it dawned on me yesterday that they are still the originals. Time sure flies. I think I'll replace all the parts a little earlier than planned once the temps in Phoenix are low enough to work on the car in the garage. I can't wait until our temps drop to a more comfortable level.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by jmatta

I wondered about the same topic when I changed my coolant this year and updated the car with the LN t-stat; the car is seven years old with 15k miles.

The hoses I had to pull were in excellent condition, without cracks or any sign of hardness. Probably lack of miles and heat, but as LB said, hoses don't last forever. Your car being a little older, it would likely be wise to address the issue since you need to drain the coolant anyway (that was the biggest pain of the project).

And don’t forget about the ones up front by the radiators; changing them would also be a good time to clean out the radiators as well…………..

[BYprodriver]

I just changed the hoses that I removed while installing new water pump, old hoses seemed fine but a couple of the old clamps had lost tension & let the new hoses leak on my 2000 S 85000 miles