I have been having radiator trouble for about 18 months on the HQ 253. I keep blowing water out the over flow pipe and I had to top up the radiator every few days.

I had a new water pump, termostat and reco'ed original (not chinese crap) V8 radiator. Temp was fine and ran in normal range.

I replaced the rediator cap with a new Holden dellaer spare and added an over flow bottle. This stop fluid spewing on to the drive way everytime I got fuel, however it persisted, and the overflow bottle was always empty too. Where did all the bloody water go? Ran it with the cap off until the termostat opened a few times to make sure there was no air in the system.

Still no better.

One day I pulled up in the drive and it made the worst gurgling and spluttering noise I had ever heard, lifted the bonnet an the top hose was sucked flat!!! Sstarted it up and all back to normal.

Next day I replaced the top hose with a new one and now no problem at all. Radiator runs full all the time and I top up the overflow once every couple of weeks.

Was this just a buggered top hose?? Any similar experiences out there?