DIY: Replacing heater hose pipe T's *important* (4 Viewers)

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Finally got around to doing my T's and hoses. 2003, 153k The hot side broke with minimal contact. Don't put off doing this!

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Local dealer (molle, kc) wanted $440 to do heater hoses and tees.
i asked them as ive an annular tear around spine and need to refrain from twisting.
even worse, the service advisor didnt know what “heater tees” were when i mentioned it.
surely this job can be tackled with or without sturdy vertebrae :frown:
 
Local dealer (molle, kc) wanted $440 to do heater hoses and tees.
i asked them as ive an annular tear around spine and need to refrain from twisting.
even worse, the service advisor didnt know what “heater tees” were when i mentioned it.
surely this job can be tackled with or without sturdy vertebrae :frown:
I'm just as cheap as the next guy but that price actually seems fairly reasonable - especially if it includes the parts
 
Local dealer (molle, kc) wanted $440 to do heater hoses and tees.
i asked them as ive an annular tear around spine and need to refrain from twisting.
even worse, the service advisor didnt know what “heater tees” were when i mentioned it.
surely this job can be tackled with or without sturdy vertebrae :frown:

The easiest way to replace both hoses and Tees would be to remove them as 'units', use the intact units as templates to build the new ones (on a bench) then install the new units. That way you are not bent over the back of the engine doing it piece by piece.
 
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Tackled this job today. I hadn't read every single page of this thread, but I read many of them. Nevertheless I still got tripped up! Some of the things I'm saying here are in various posts in this thread, but just wanted to reiterate some key items I ran into today:

The rig:
2001 LX470 with 250k miles. Purchased a year ago with spotty service records so I wanted to get this job done.


Teeeeees
I LOVE the idea of a metal T. However, I was nervous about the different diameters of the metal T's not matching the hoses exactly. So I went with Toyota plastic. The previous lasted 22 years and 250k miles, so I figured we can do that again


Clamps
Oh man, what a mess. As previous posters have mentioned, Partsouq (and I believe other parts diagrams) are WRONG! You don't need 96136-52101! The "upper" hoses are thicker than the two hoses that run down towards the ground. The parts catalogs say you need 96136-52101 for one side of the upper hoses. 96136-52101 is for a smaller diameter hose. What you actually need is 8x 96134-42100.

96136-52101 appears to be very similar to 90467-19022 which is used for the hoses that run to the ground. In either case you don't need 96136-52101. And 90467-19022 works fine for the hoses at the bottom of the T.

I was bummed out finding this out today, but I ended up just using reusing 4x of the old clamps and so far appears to be fine.


Hoses
This one is mostly my fault, but I messed up and got 87245-6A800 (for 2003+) instead of 87245-6A201 (for 99-02). The good news is that it was VERY close to the one that was already on there. So I just went with it.

If you make the same mistake you can see in this post here the hoses are all pretty similar (Thanks TLCPNW!):


The labor:
I didn't have top crawler or sheet of plywood but was still able to get this done. Don't let the lack of these things stop you from doing this job. I bought the cheap hose clamp plyer set on amazon which kind of worked. I also just used a regular set of needle nose and regular pliers which also worked well.

As everyone else has said I HIGHLY recommend replacing the hoses as part of this job. That being said, I still tried to use a hose pick to see if I could get off the hoses. Just for the heck of it I bought this $2 set of mini picks from Harbor Freight and they actually worked pretty well! Mini Pick and Hook Set - https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/specialty-hand-tools/picks-hooks-tweezers-probes/pick-sets/mini-pick-and-hook-set-63697.html These came in handy when my bigger set couldn't get behind a hose well. I also just cut some of the trickier hoses to get them off as I didn't want to bend or break a tube.


Gory T Picture
And yes, my drivers side T snapped off SO easy when I started messing with the clips. VERY glad I did this job.

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I just saw on FB someone posted about this metal T replacement called the AUTOTECNICA TY0617365PRM or TY0617365-PRM:


I will admit I haven't read all 43 pages of this thread, but I don't recall seeing this one mentioned before? Appears to have the exact same appearance as the stock? Which means you could use stock hoses and clamps?

Might have to order a set just to see them in person. Maybe this is the holy grail replacement?
 
I just saw on FB someone posted about this metal T replacement called the AUTOTECNICA TY0617365PRM or TY0617365-PRM:


I will admit I haven't read all 43 pages of this thread, but I don't recall seeing this one mentioned before? Appears to have the exact same appearance as the stock? Which means you could use stock hoses and clamps?

Might have to order a set just to see them in person. Maybe this is the holy grail replacement?
Yep, I'm thinking the same thing.
 
To beat a deadhorse, replace those heater tees. After removing them didn't take much force at all for them to fail.

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Noticed a puddle of coolant under my cruiser, it looked like I had enough coolant so I drove to the auto zone 10 minutes away to get a pressure testing kit to find where the leak was coming from. On my way back I noticed I started to overheat and pulled over right away. I got stranded but luckily in my own neighborhood. One of the tees was pretty much snapped off, wish I looked at this thread sooner :bang:
 
I got some really nice metal ones off rock auto by that name. Look exactly like oem except metal. I like 'em. And they did fit perfectly with the hoses and clamps. I only replaced the tees when I did it.
I just saw on FB someone posted about this metal T replacement called the AUTOTECNICA TY0617365PRM or TY0617365-PRM:


I will admit I haven't read all 43 pages of this thread, but I don't recall seeing this one mentioned before? Appears to have the exact same appearance as the stock? Which means you could use stock hoses and clamps?

Might have to order a set just to see them in person. Maybe this is the holy grail replacement?
 
I did T's and hoses this past weekend. 2003 lx470 with 160k miles. Got the OEM hoses and T's as a kit from Wits-end (link below). Followed tips listed throughout this thread - thanks to all the contributors!
- Some plywood with moving blanket on top of the engine made for a nice platform to do the work.
- Removed hoses and t's as a whole unit (t's broke in the process of removal). I cut some of the hoses off as they were very stuck to the truck side aluminum pipes.
- Reassembled new hoses and t's on my bench first but didn't tighten clamps until all assembled on truck to allow hoses to rotate a little to their natural orientations.

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For what it's worth, installed these brass generic ¨Joywayus 3/4"x5/8"x3/4" ID Hose Reducing Barb Tee 3 Way Union Fitting Intersection/Split Brass Water/Fuel/Air" 3 years ago together with new stock hoses on a 99 LC100. Looks like the same are still available on amazon.
 
I've never seen OEM parts come in anything but a clear package with the red and white label. Plus, like someone above said, those are WAY crude looking for Toyota parts! They should be smooth and satin-to-shiny in appearance.
 
I've never seen OEM parts come in anything but a clear package with the red and white label. Plus, like someone above said, those are WAY crude looking for Toyota parts! They should be smooth and satin-to-shiny in appearance.
Excellent point about the clear packaging.
 
Those would be going back to the ebay seller if it was me.
 

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