Does any one have a list of the steps for replacing the water hose(s) over the engine and under the throttle body?  I had one blow over a month ago and used a temporary 1/4 inch hose with a two way tapered connector spliced in with no hose clamps though.  99 Outback wagon with 2.2.

Edited July 19, 201510 yr by ThosL

Do it when the engine is cold.  The preformed lines are nice, but you can get by with straight hose, just make sure you don't kink it.

 

Remove the airbox

Drivers side is pretty easy, just remove the clams and hose and replace

The passenger side is a little harder access but it can  be done.

Fill the overflow bottle to the proper level.

I spent about an hour on the main long coolant line between the airbox and the engine; both are hard to get to, one is much longer, the one with the original problem.  I tried a couple of those finger tightening clamps to prevent the slight leak.  They just made it worse.  What would be a reasonable amount of mechanic time on replacing the two hoses, a half hour?  Why are these two quarter inch or greater lines so hard to get to?

The best way I've found is to just pull the manifold off. It doesn't need to be totally removed from the car, just popped up a few inches on the right side to give some room. It's almost impossible to get to the end of the hose where it attaches to the crossover pipe without pulling up the manifold. You can get in there and yank the old hose off, but getting the new one on is the hard part.

 

Most shops would probably charge about an hour since there is probably not a listed labor time to replace these hoses.

Thanks for letting me know the degree of difficulty on this; it helps me to not feel like a dummy on repairs.