I wondered if anyone could offer any advice. The car recently decided to drop all its water when I was in the middle of nowhere, needing me to be towed home. We thought it was the water pump, but after stripping down one side of the engine to get to it, it turned out to be a small hose on the front of the engine has split right down to the braiding. Pic below.

This was replaced at a cost of £24 for the hose. All seemed fine till last night when I parked up at a supermarket steam was escaping out of the engine and it was dripping water. Turns out this hose has failed again after 20days. It also feels dreadfully soft to the touch. What comeback will I have with ford for this, will they be saying it faulty fitting...... is this a common thing to go? The older one was as soft when it was removed. Would welcome any advice.

I would definatley ring ford and put in a complaint. 20 days. That's ridiculous. They probably will try to get out of it but seriously how can they say it was due to being fitted wrong or whatever. There is only 1 way a hose can go on. Even the dumbest of human beings could put a hose on correctly.

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sounds like the cooling system is over pressurising which could be due to a faulty coolant cap not releasing the pressure

I thought about that artscot. How would I test that... I have had a good look at this hose now and its not just split, its absolutely knackered...

you cant really test it at home either gas is getting into the coolant system ie a head leak or the cap is knackered they really should be renewed every few years the split shows the hose has burst out so the pressure has clearly got too much the cap is supposed to release excess pressure if it doesnt then it has to find a way out usually via a hose ide replace the cap anyway

Pretty sure its not the head. Cant understand why the new hose failed then and not one of the older ones. Surely a new hose should last longer than the others even if there is overpressurisation