P38A top hose pressure

morning all,
right and i dont mean to be blunt, just frustrated by the lack of a straight answer to just one question.
does anybody have the accurate non guess as to how firm the top hose of a 4.6 should feel as if it were new.
no matter which forum you ask this question nobody seems to know the definitive straight forward answer without going off on all different tangents, please does anyone know, grrrrrrr.
thanx

Should be firm but squeezable, but not solid when engine is hot. If you think you have problems find someone with a static test rig and see what pressure the system is running at.

thanx wammers i was hoping youd reply, thats what i thought, having just had it top hattted, its firm and i can easily take off the expansion cap when warm and running with only a slight hiss and no coolant overflow, my reason for asking was that i do still seem to be losing coolant but cannot for the life of me find out where from, driving me to the point of hanging.

scottdej said:

thanx wammers i was hoping youd reply, thats what i thought, having just had it top hattted, its firm and i can easily take off the expansion cap when warm and running with only a slight hiss and no coolant overflow, my reason for asking was that i do still seem to be losing coolant but cannot for the life of me find out where from, driving me to the point of hanging.

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Dye and a uv lamp but could take some finding. Very small leaks usually dry up as they appear on a hot engine. So static tester and same method cold is the way forwards. Are you filling correctly? Any over fill will be ejected giving the impression of coolant loss. If you are filling correctly to level with engine cold and coolant is going below full level then you need to find out where it is going. Sometimes a small leak can be hard to find. Just going round and snugging up all the clips does the job. But don't just tighten clips up knock them back a bit then re snug.

scottdej said:

thanx wammers i was hoping youd reply, thats what i thought, having just had it top hattted, its firm and i can easily take off the expansion cap when warm and running with only a slight hiss and no coolant overflow, my reason for asking was that i do still seem to be losing coolant but cannot for the life of me find out where from, driving me to the point of hanging.

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If you haven't got a visable exterior leak then check the carpet, driver's side bell housing for leaking heater O rings

yeah will do mate, got some new heater hoses coming today, so the mission goes on thanx

Tried to phone you Tony, have you got it switched on?

ok cheers signing off to resume the never ending p38 ownership battle.lol.

tomcat59alan said:

Tried to phone you Tony, have you got it switched on?

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Just phoned you.

wammers said:

Just phoned you.

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I know, I've been speaking to you.

tomcat59alan said:

I know, I've been speaking to you.

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Oh was that you?

What was me? This Oldtimers desease is catching.

If it has just been top-hatted then I'd bung some uv dye in and check the dipstick each night. MrGorsky had a similar mysterious leak and that's where his was going. Then take it back for a proper HG.