1st Problem! Are these the T's on the Coolant System?

[montegofd3s]

I just ordered those brass ones from amazon. Thank you for the link and the warning thread. I have been putting this off long enough.

 

[hankinid]

My Cruiser has 210k on it. Meticulously maintained by the dealer it's whole life. I think it may have to do with age just as much as mileage. I'd say do them now.

I went with the plastic OEM ones because I figured they already lasted 200k miles and 10 years. That's good enough for me. Next time I'll be replacing all the hoses as well.

One question. Is the proper way to top off the coolant to fill the radiator, and then fill the overflow tank to the line? Or is that too much coolant for the system. I read somewhere the radiator likes to be about 3/4 full.

I did mine at the start of last summer, LX had about 150K on her at that time. Both T's were still intact, though hot side (iirc the one nearer the center of the truck) had a bit of discoloration. Both of the oldies are now in the tool box in the truck.

I've changed coolant 3 times so far...as far as my experience goes, the cooling system is self-bleeding. FSM shows capacity at 15.6 qts. on a truck with front heat only, and 16.2 qts. with front and rear heat. I'm not under truck now, but iirc unless you undo the rear heat hoses, you'll never get a complete drain as the rear heat hoses are lower than the radiator petcock and the block drain valves.

So, what I've after draining the radiator and block on both sides is to simply add new coolant through the radiator until full, and add new coolant to the overflow tank until it's above the "full" line an inch or 2. I stick a piece of masking tape on the side of the tank and mark the coolant level when full. I'll drive the truck for 2-3 days and mark the tape with hot and cold levels. Once those marks stabilize, I'll top off to the full mark or a bit higher and that's it.

Spammer, you were lucky, and I'm glad the engine wasn't toasted. You've just seen your truck use up one of it's 9 lives.

hth

Steve

 

[cjorg]

Thanks for the reminder! I'll be ordering the parts. Glad you didn't hurt anything.

 

[Keowee]

Ordered T's and hoses this week. Thanks for the reminder. I fried an engine in a GTO back in the day with a stuck thermostat. Affordable then but not now.

 

[Traskew3]

If we pull out the old t's, will we loose much coolant? Do we have to do much? Did some one do a step by step write up?

*** Never mind , found my answer a few pages down. ***

 

[Spanktron9]

Suddenly, I'm feeling very good about coughing up the $250 to the stealership to replace Ts and thermostat on Thursday. I knew I wouldn't get around to it for awhile, so I just told them to order them and do it. 254,000 on the ODO.

 

[Keowee]

Changed the Ts and hoses for peace of mind. Old ones are still in good condition at 174,000 miles. Must have been the coolant changes over the years. Ya never know.

 

[jemsec]

Replace tees, clamps and all heater hoses at the same time. Cut off the old hoses carefully rather than trying to pull them off and damaging the brass connections. PITA but will be good for a long time with no more concerns. It would be nice if you had a third arm about 18" long to help out.

 

[Keowee]

^^That is what I did on mine. Slice the hoses and peel them off the connections with a screwdriver.

Now I'm thinking I need to change the ones under the truck. Two of them look to be hard to reach. Anybody had one to fail yet?