Radiator Hoses - when to replace?

My radiator hoses on my '02 w/ 125000 miles are over 12 years old now. It seemed as though for older cars we had a regular maintenance schedule for radiator hoses. However the ones on my Sprinter show no external sign of checking/oxidizing, rotting or ballooning. Further, I seem to recall only a few posts about radiator hoses - which seems to indicate hoses on the Sprinter are not a common problem - yet.

Any one know the recommended replacement cycle for these hoses?
If you have replaced hoses, when and why?

Thanks

i replaced my hoses when I changed the water pump (at around 185,000 miles). The old ones still looked good. I replaced my Turbo hoses at the same time (there were lots of small cracks in them), so I figured that I may have issues that I don't see that could fail while on a trip. My old Water pump was still ok too, however, I have never had a vehicle water pump with that many miles on it before and I replaced a lot of related parts as a preventative maintenance step.

I think that the HOAT anti-freeze used in the Sprinter is very easy on the hoses.

Same as Jmoller. Swapped the hoses when the water pump went at about 185k. Tighten the sh*t out of the hose clamps. I had several weep a bit over time after applying what I thought was adequate torque.

shortshort said:

Same as Jmoller. Swapped the hoses when the water pump went at about 185k. Tighten the sh*t out of the hose clamps. I had several weep a bit over time after applying what I thought was adequate torque.

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Thanks for that insight, I just had a low coolant level light come on, and a clamp was loosed just enough to start a slow weep of coolant.

I replace hoses whenever i spot cracks in the rubber , i can see that the hose is ballooning around the clamp or when i squeeze a cold hose and it feels hard or more strangely "crunchy " when you squash it in your hand .

I have also stopped using jubilee clips & use Norma clamps instead
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/W2-NORMA-...41996?var=430098664651&_trksid=p2054897.l5663

These spread the load over more of the hose & fitting it goes on , uses a bolt head to tighten so you can always tighten them fully BUT remove them again afterwards , the insert under the thread also stops the clamp cutting into the rubber . I also use them to fix exhaust section togeather instead of U-bolts as they do not crush the pipes into each other , making dis-assembly easy , if you need to

Clamps...the best clamp in the world...

Turbo John said:

Clamps...the best clamp in the world...

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Gates Power Grip Clamps:
Looks like about $8 per clamp

And requires a specialty tool to remove