Honda Civic Cracked Radiator Hose

Im 17 and was driving my first car which is a 1995 honda civic that I paid $1300 for. I was driving at 40 mph when my car made a pop noise (radiator hose split open) and a small amount of white smoke went into the air and I began to smell antifreeze/coolant. I pulled over in less than a minute and lifted the hood to find that antifreeze/coolant had squirted in small amounts within the hood. I immediately took it around 7 miles to my mechanic to have it looked at because at the time I didn't know what the problem was but I was surprised that the car was running the whole way there. When I got to the mechanic and put the car in park (idle) heavy amounts of white smoke started to pour out of the hood. The mechanic show me clearly where the radiator hose had tore substantially and showed me how some kind of way the engine have VERY LITTLE OIL. He said that I should have called a tow rather than to have drove it there and concluded that I had damaged the engine and needed a new one rather than just replace the radiator hose and do an oil change??? My question is if my car accelerated up hills just to get to the mechanic proves that the engine is still good. All he would have to do is replace the hose and put oil into the engine and the problem seems as if it would be fixed in my mind? why would the mechanic deem the engine bad when after the smoke cleared under the hood EVERYTHING looked perfectly fine. No white milky or foamy antifreeze or nothing. Do you think my car might have a chance? What could be wrong or what can be done? what do you have to lose? replace the hose, bleed the air out of the cooling system and add oil. honda engines are extremely durable. wrenchy3 wrote:what do you have to lose? replace the hose, bleed the air out of the cooling system and add oil. honda engines are extremely durable.

I was thinking the same thing but the mechanic acted as if i should have a funeral for the car. I left it with him though he said he would try my suggestion and replace the radiator hose and change the oil but Im hoping all goes well when its time to turn over the engine and take it for a test drive. well, u may of got lucky, but no engine is so durable that it can run for very long without coolant or oil. its possible u may have a blown head gasket, cracked/warped head or cracked block.

when the hose blew the engine would of started overheating. u could still drive it but by the time u got it 7 miles the damage could of been done. even tho 'evrything looked perfectly fine', unless u got x ray eyes, u cant see inside the engine and thats where the damage would be.

anyways, its worth replacing the hose and filling it with coolant and oil to see what happens. the mechanic would have to do that anyways to try and run the engine to diagnose it further and find out for sure if theres internal damage.Car Repair Talk's forum.