I need to replace the small coolant hose running from under the manifold to the t-stat housing. :cornfuzz: Do I need to get OEM or will something else work? And if something else, what?

 

Thanks,

Jay

i went and got a piece of fuel line from the parts store on my RX.. worked great.. still on the car as a matter of fact..

I second the use of fuel line.. 2 years and still works great.. looks a lot better than some of the factory hoses I have pulled off of there.. hell of a lot cheaper and easier to find than OEM too

Just did the same replacement on my 86 Brat. Got fuel line from NAPA. Works great.

I have a small piece of hydraulic (sp?) hose I got from work (John Deere Dealership). Put it on about this time last year and its still going strong.

My NAPA/Gates book sez in bold letters:

 

Do not use fuel hose for pressure-side hose on fuel injected engines OR ON COOLANT SYSTEM APPLICATIONS.

 

Buy heater hose - it's available down to 1/4" (not sure what size that hose is) and its cheaper than fuel line!

 

The difference is the rubber in heater hose is resistant to electrochemical breakdown which is caused by the cooling system.

oh man, better listen to napa for everything.

 

anything will work. prolly even clear fishtank line, stretched over it with hose clamps.

While it may be true that coolant hose is available down to 1/4". how many places actually have it in stock? When in a crunch (like a split hose during some of the coldest temps in years) you use what is available.

Yo Arch -

 

Just reading the manufacturer's book, man. If you like coolant hoses blowing at inopportune times, go right ahead and put whatever the f:Dk you want on your vehicle.

 

I DEFINITELY agree that in a pinch, you should put on whatever you can, aldoat, but later, you should put on the RIGHT stuff. Ask your parts store to order it if they don't have it!

i gotta tell napa my hatchbacks are brats, just so i can get the right parts, so i dont put much stock in what napa says.

 

something tells me fuel line, especially efi fuel line, would stand up to heat and 14lbs. just saying, its not that complicated, as long as its black it will last at least 2 years. nothing against partsguy, just napa.

I have started replacing any old water lines with silicone. They will last longer than the car (hopefully). The only place I could find it was at...........you guessed it,

Napa.

Rob

ug, on that, the only hose i have ever split in cold weather is silicone. i know its supposed to be bad a$$ and all that, but i had the vac hose split wide open in 0 degreee weather, as i slid it on the vac advance on my disty.

Are you using the designer (for lack of a better word) silicone? Thats not designed for water or fuel. I can imagine it could crack in freezing weather, its pretty cheap stuff.

Rob

I stick with OE hoses. The most important fact for me is that they are molded in THE RIGHT SHAPE.

 

Standard hoses will tend to kink where you bend them and impeed the flow. At high enough flow rates, the kinks may also cause enough turbulence to create bubbles, and subsequent cavitation in the water pump. But that is extreme, and probably not relevant in car engines. I just like the word cavitation

this is a pretty funny topic.

 

the silicone is what im taliking about. it was orange stuff from napa. split down the middle as i sliped it on a nipple, then i cut the end off and tried again. dunno what happened.

maybe it was a bad batch, or it was cured too fast or someting

the little pyosser under the intake make a rule to change it yearly. any hose will last at least that long.

Well I got some sort of hose from........Napa and it was black. It looks to be a lot better hose than the one coming off the car, disreguarding the small split in the old one.

 

On a more helpful note, I remember someone bending a hemostat to actuate the spring clamp that hold it on under the manifold. I did this and still couldn't get the spring clamp to go on so I used a zip tie. It hasn't leaked yet (one day and counting).

 

So what other tricks do you guys use to clamp that hose w/o taking off the intake?

 

Thanks,

Jay

use a pair of pliers or just a screwdriver type camp. a lot of times i have kept the same hoses for swaps. the only brittle hose i saw was an RX, and i dont think it was the oe hose.

 

if you were the one who serviced the hose, then you would know what to expect. so then you dont have to worry about hings, since you know whats up about it

Jay, the hemo's were a Bill Putney trick. He was the man, haven't seen from him in a while.

On your zip tie trick, I would be a bit worried after it's been on there a while and maybe the system gets a bit hot and the pressure builds and thats a bad time to have a hose come off.

Can't you get a worm style clamp on there, and tighten it with a 1/4" socket? Your call, I have seen zip ties get brittle with heat

yeah after i got Bill Putney's wagon he disapeared and i had to let it go to the scrapper too after 16k miles tho lol..

 

there were some interesting things in there when i pulled the motor outa it to say the least, hehe...