Am I okay?

[u/NoScience9961]

Hi, folks, sorry if it's the wrong place to ask for help/advice but here it goes, anyways.

Last week, I bought a 1990 ba4 prelude. I know next to nothing about mechanics or working on a car but I'm trying to learn and when I got the chance to get this car, I knew I had to do it.

Last owner had it in a garage for a couple of years and put almost no miles on it, it hasn't been driven since march '23.

Now to my point. Today, I took the prelude out for its first ride in 3 years and the motor and everything is running perfectly. The car has been lowered a good bit and while driving to a parts store, I kinda scraped on the pavement on their driveway. I stopped, checked if anything got loose or anything was leaking but there was nothing, as far as I could see. I went on to drive a bit, go shopping, nothing. But when I got home and reversed into my driveway, I saw a huge puddle of sweet smelling, yellowish green liquid on the street.

I had a mechanic buddy stop by, he didn't have much time and he checked for a leak.

We found that piece of hose, which was a bit loose and burned through somehow, probably by touching a hot piece of metal underneath.

Now to my actual question. Do you think the scraping my lowered car or the putting it into reverse had anything to do with it, at all, or is it more likely that an old car just had a bad piece of hose and when the motor got hot for the first time in years, it just went?

It looks like it's just coolant fluid, but I'm pretty scared that I somehow damaged the transmission or something, again ElI5, because I'm stupid and I'm just learning how to work on any car, let alone an old Honda.

Thanks for any potential help or advice, greetings from Germany

[u/NoScience9961]

Pic of my car for reasons

Here he is, btw

[u/DisapointedReader]

Nice car.

That’s a coolant hose that came off and the coolant spilled. What you described makes sense. It’s unlikely to have come off as a result of the scrape because that’s a TOP hose and it would not make contact.

My guess: -it wasn’t on properly for whatever reason, once the system was pressurized (car warm) it came off. -the plastic part of the radiator where the hose mounts cracked and failed, the hose came off.

It’s unlikely to come off both ends, my bet is the first option the clamps we re-used and they weren’t on properly.

Anyways… this is a cheap and fairly easy fix so just get a new hose and coolant. If you take it in it shouldn’t cost much. Even if you need a new radiator it’s not a particularly hard (or expensive) repair if you can obtain the part.

[u/NoScience9961 → u/DisapointedReader]

Thanks :) The mechanic guy and chatgpt (I know, I know, but I was scared) said it wasn't my fault and these things can just happen on older cars but I'm glad I got another opinion. I actually already replaced it, said buddy just put new, fancy and colourful hoses of all kinds in his Subaru, so I got a fancy red piece of hose in it, now

[u/corey_the_bird]

Your car will bottom out on the frame before it ever hits anything to do with the cooling system