I was making a short trip today around my house and on the way back I blew a heater hose near the back of the engine. I don't understand how this happens at -4 degrees. But I have my guesses. Also before i knew the hose brust the gauges said "Coolant Temperature". And I saw the engine's temperature gauge was in the red!!!! I was so worried I pulled over turned up the heat and turned off the car, There was steaming coolant everywhere in the engine bay and underneath the car. I had the car towed to my house which was only 2 blocks away. Do you guy think any long term damage could have happened with the gauge going into the red? I'm worried but this has happened before in my other 7 series and it was fine after changing the hose. But I never asked if there is any damage to the engine when this happens. So if anyone knows fill me in. Thanks guys.

You did the right thing towing it.

You might have caused long-term damage, but I would just focus on getting the hoses replaced first. See how she runs after that.

hmmm Indeed, I'll update this tomorrow. I was doing some research and I saw people reccomend BMW coolant, I think I've been using over the counter green stuff for a longtime now. haha. I will put BMW coolant from now on. NOt that it caused the problem but I think I'll feel better about it.... lol

Hey, if it turns out you cracked a cylinder head, let me know, I'll ship mine over to you, cheap!

Had nothing to do with what type of coolant you had. Either you were low on coolant and you had a lot of air pressure in the system and it blew the hose off or the hose was just old and rotted/cracked.

A good rule of thumb for these cars with know raditator problems, never punch the gas until the car has got up to full operating temp and the thermostat is open because to much pressure builds in the system and you were lucky just a hose blew off and not a cracked plastic side tank.

Was there any noticable change in the vehicle's performance just before it blew? If not, you may be okay, but like Plik said, you have to replace the hose and try again before you can know for sure.

If the anti-freeze concentration is a bit off it is not unusual (in any car) for the radiator to "slush up" or stop flowing as soon as you start to drive. This prevents circulation through the radiator, causing all of the simptoms that were observed.

It is always advisable to allow the coolant temp to build before starting to drive in very cold weather. This ensures that when the thermostat opens the radiator is flowing properly.

I made the mistake of forgetting to replace the "temporary" water I had used in place of a LOT of coolant when I had a leak. It was like 1 degree outside and I started to drive and the car over-heated (it had been fine for weeks up until the cold weather) and luckily I over-heated in the parking lot of an automotive parts store so I was able to run in and get coolant and replace the water with coolant and I've been fine ever since. Water must have frozen.

Damn today I had my temp shoot up on the highway and come to find out my plastic end tank on the rad broke and almost left me stranded. I was able to take the main coolant intake hose that goes into the rad off and get the broken goose neck out of the hose, then I just had a half inch of plastic left to grip on to but I got the hose on to the rad and its holding fine. I refilled the coolant and bled the air out and made it 35 miles home and at the stop light the coolant temp shot up again and once the car was moving it went right back to operating temp so I think I have a bad clutch fan. Time to order some parts.

Sometimes when it is this cold out the rubber will shrink a bit and the 10+ year old clamp won't shrink with it causing the hose to come loose under pressure. Hopefully there's no damage!