DIY: Replacing heater hose pipe T's *important* (12 Viewers)

[FLJ23]

I did mine last week.
No leaks for a few days.
Drove about 1000 miles for Memorial Day weekend and when I got home I noticed a leak.
My plastic reservoir was almost empty and I found it leaking on hose that attaches to firewall.
The only thing I can think of is that I pinched the hose with clamp a bit and caused a leak that didn’t show til now.
I adjust the clamp further back and it leaked a lot more. But can’t tell if it’s the hose or connection on firewall.
Anyone have this happen?

 

[FLJ23]

Dang I bought a replacement hose thinking that was my issue for the leak and reinstalled it and it’s still leaking.
I hope it’s just the hose clamp and not the heater core in dash. ‍

 

[flintknapper]

Dang I bought a replacement hose thinking that was my issue for the leak and reinstalled it and it’s still leaking.
I hope it’s just the hose clamp and not the heater core in dash. ‍

IF you reused the factory constant tension clamp, ditch it! Get a good worm gear clamp. Apply a sealant (lightly) on the heater core tube, install hose, clamp it down tight. Let it sit for a couple of hours, go back see if the clamp is still tight. If not...tighten a bit more.

Then run the heater and check for leaks.

Yes, I know several are going to get all upset at the thought of using a worm gear clamp. But they have their place and your situation is exactly one of them.

 

[FLJ23]

IF you reused the factory constant tension clamp, ditch it! Get a good worm gear clamp. Apply a sealant (lightly) on the heater core tube, install hose, clamp it down tight. Let it sit for a couple of hours, go back see if the clamp is still tight. If not...tighten a bit more.

Then run the heater and check for leaks.

Yes, I know several are going to get all upset at the thought of using a worm gear clamp. But they have their place and your situation is exactly one of them.

Thanks for the info.
I ended up draining it twice and switching the hose clamp that was on tee side to the core side.
I ran it for 45 min and it appears to be good.
That was my next thing to do was to go with worm clamp.
I can see the aluminum is a bit egged out.
I may have bent it when pulling off the old hose. Thanks for those tips

 

[flintknapper]

Thanks for the info.
I ended up draining it twice and switching the hose clamp that was on tee side to the core side.
I ran it for 45 min and it appears to be good.
That was my next thing to do was to go with worm clamp.
I can see the aluminum is a bit egged out.
I may have bent it when pulling off the old hose. Thanks for those tips

I had the same trouble as you. When we replaced my heater T's my Brother (God bless him), grabbed the inlet side heater hose to the heater core with a pair of pliers and seriously crushed the tube. After straightening it as much as possible, I found the OEM clamp simply wouldn't keep it from leaking. I used some permatex sealant and a worm gear clamp and it hasn't leaked in over a year.

 

[drjman]

Just replaced my T's at 268k. One was original and broke on all three ends when I tried to twist it out. The tip for using a paint can opener to pull out the broken pieces was spot on.

The other looked different and most likely isn't original. It came out no problem and will work as a spare in a pinch. It was relatively easy. Took me 30 minutes total and only a minimal amount of fluid came out. It's kind of the high point for the whole system, so fluid loss isn't an issue. I didn't even add any to it afterward.

It's a little grunty to lay in there and get leverage, but compared to other jobs, this was nice and quick.

 

[dustbowl]

i have been into these T's allot just lately. i ordered some oem t's and they worked great but just got some steel 3/4 x/3/4 x5/8 t's and now i think i will re do and install the steel ones,they look bulletproof

 

[dustbowl]

i borrowed this image but the same THANK YOU Flintknapper for finding these

 

[Live to Ski]

I hope "steel" was a misquote.

 

[flintknapper]

I hope "steel" was a misquote.

Not a 'misquote'. Plated STEEL.

Let's hear your objection?

 

[FrankieJoe14]

Just did this on the 2001 LC i picked up a few weeks ago. Has 178k on the truck

According to the toyota owners website, my truck had a new engine put in at 100k in 2009, at the DEALER (would not want to see what that bill was)

They MIGHT have been replaced at that time, but still glad I did it. Pretty easy job with some small channel locks and a small painters platform.

 

[2000_land_cruiser]

I replaced mine last week and sure enough mine blew apart when I started moving them around. I did this tonight home depot special and used the brass ones. Pex 3/4 x 3/4 x 3/4. The hose that comes up the bottom is a tight fit but if it's an older hose it's prob stretched out. I would recommend using hose clamps so you can tighten everything down nice and tight. Mine is at 242k and I'm not sure when they were replaced last.

 

[BEG]

Glad to see people are tackling this simple fix, but I'm surprised to see so many leaks and issues.

- Why are people attempting to remove the tees on the vehicle? It's safest to remove the entire assembly (tees with hoses attached) from the firewall and engine connections to avoid broken bits of plastic falling in. Use one of these:

- The metal replacement tees are not the same diameter as the stock tees, so you can't reuse the factory spring clamps on the tee end if you go this route. Use the Breeze constant torque clamps. They have the adjustability of worm clamps and the variable tension of spring clamps to keep tension on as the hoses swell and shrink. Set it and forget it:

 

[97 AZ LC]

- Why are people attempting to remove the tees on the vehicle? It's safest to remove the entire assembly (tees with hoses attached) from the firewall and engine connections to avoid broken bits of plastic falling in.

Removing the entire assembly is a bigger job than it needs to be, unless of course your hoses are bad which they usually aren't. It's easy to clamp off the hoses and then fish out any debris that may detach from the T. I use six inch needle nose locking pliers covered with 1/4" inside diameter vacuum hose. It completely closes off the hose without doing any damage to it.

 

[bentonrover]

My weekend project too. 05 LX470 with 145k
Wasn't leaking but this thread couldn't let me sleep. So Lowes it was for pex brass t's and clamps.

 

[chrisratz]

After having the parts sitting in my toolbox for over a year, I finally got around to doing this today. Thanks to all those who have contributed to this thread. As I was working on this, I came back here a couple times and found some good tips that helped with a couple noob roadblocks I hit along the way.

2001 LC - It has always lived in central california, so that means ~18 very hot summers. 177k miles

You can see some leaking here:

I replaced the hoses along with the T's, so I was able to remove T's intact:

With a little bit of pressure, the driver side T crumbled, the passenger side is solid. So, in line with what others have reported.

 

[gearguywb]

Is there a MUD guy to buy OEM parts from anymore? I wouldn't mind doing the T's, hoses, everything at once.

 

[TN03Cruiser]

What’s the part number for the heater hoses that go with the T?

 

[planomateo]

What’s the part number for the heater hoses that go with the T?

See post #46 in this thread.

 

[94SRUNNER]

This should be new owner baseline 101. When I bought our 100 about 2 years ago, they looked ok and I didn't think much of them...that is until this past April when I was checking the oil. Mine were toast, luckily I happened to have 2 OEM units on hand and the replacement was quick. I was lucky enough to avoid potential catastrophic failure.