bleed screw on radiator hose...

what started out as a slow antifreeze leak turns into a bigger antifreeze leak. and sure enough my radiator has sprung a leak in the right side. had it replaced on tuesday. today, thursday, i walk outside to find a HUGE puddle under my truck! open up the hood and the little bleed screw on the hose above the radiator has popped off and fluid has spewed everywhere. the screw is snapped off, so retightening is out of the question. new hose is my only option i suppose. but i was wondering if there is a direct corrolation to replacing the radiator and the screw sheering off 2 days later, or am i just dealing with a weird coincidence...

Odds are that as part of loosening and tightening the screw to bleed the cooling system, the screw developed a crack which weakened it to the point where coolant pressure finished the job.
 
I'd lean toward saying the screw should not crack simply due to loosening it and tightening it, so the odds are there was something wrong with it to begin with, which was made worse due to using it as part of bleeding, and it then finally blew under coolant pressure.
 
Another possibility is that it was overtightened when they buttoned it up, it cracked when they did that, and the crack blew apart under coolant pressure.  I don't know how you'd go about overtightening it though.  You'd think the housing it screws in to would crack long before the screw does. 
 
I guess I'd lean toward the theory that says it was made defectively, using it cracked it, and the coolant pressure was too much for the cracked screw to handle.

You could put a bolt in it that is the correct size, just use a little sealant to make sure it won't leak. (It's cheaper than a new hose.) My shop did it. Good luck.

thanks for the idea, but my shop put a new hose on this morning. went to the dealership and bought the part, then my local mech switched it out for me. who knew a rubber tube could cost $65!!! but at least this one has the bleed screw on the T joint, not the hose itself...maybe it will last a little longer...

If you have any moe coolant or heat related issues, I would suggest you do a coolant pressure and chemical block test to rule out a head gasket buuilding up pressure.
Mike

they did a pressure check a week or so ago, when they determined the radiator leak. but i dont know if they did one after the repair. i assume so- but you never know...
 
i will keep an eye on my temp and coolant levels. thanks.

There is a reason that the replacement hose now ships with the bleed screw integrated into the T-joint. There was a design flaw with the original set-up and  once disturbed after 60K or more miles, it tends to fail as yours did.
 
Geoman
www.eurotekapg.com
 

well, that makes perfect sense. i have 64,000...
 
i just feel better knowing that it wasn't my mechanic being careless or negligent. being a girl, i worry sometimes that i wouldn't know a good shop from a bad one. but they drove out to where i was parked when the screw broke to make sure i got it home ok. then, after i bought the new hose, they swapped them out for me at no cost. their customer service is top knotch, i like to think the work they do is right on par as well...