Heater T's replaced - Coolant leak all over back firewall! (1 Viewer)

[king100]

I replaced my Heater T's 2 days ago, no leaks or problems. Now the whole back firewall is coated in coolant.

Anybody have any ideas where the leak is coming from?

 

[3_puppies]

I seem to recall you can't use the stock clamps with metal T's

 

[Kamran Khan]

This happened to me too. The fix was to install those constant tension clamps in the same orientation as it was from the factory. Rotate them downwards. Or use worm gear clamps.

 

[BullElk]

Exactly what I was thinking and wondering where you got steel Ts that worked well with OEM clamps.

 

[Trapper50cal]

Concur

 

[donco]

I had the same problem with metal tee's and original Toyota spring clamps with the original heater hoses. I bought full circumference worm screw fuel line clamps from a local speed and custom shop, no leaks now. Here's the spec for metal tee's, slightly smaller diameters than the factory metric tee's:

Four Seasons 84543 Heater Fitting, Amazon, $13.69 ea.​

 

[medtro]

I changed the hoses with Gates 1/2" and 5/8' hoses when I changed to metal Ts. I reused the factory clamps and no leak.

 

[king100]

I seem to recall you can't use the stock clamps with metal T's

You're right! They're really loose on the metal T. Dang... Should I get plastic T's or purchase different clamps?

I changed the hoses with Gates 1/2" and 5/8' hoses when I changed to metal Ts. I reused the factory clamps and no leak.

I bought all new OEM stuff already

 

[77pantera]

Like everyone else said, the metal coolant T's almost always leak with the spring clamps, mine certainly did.
What brand are those? They don't look like the Autotecnica's.

If I were to do it again, I'd just buy factory Toyota plastic T's. The first ones made it 20 years.

 

[medtro]

I bought all new OEM stuff already

You have options.

 

[take123]

I would just use the OEM plastic T's, there's no need to go through the troubles and the plastic is durable as it is. They last for so long.

 

[97 AZ LC]

Exactly what I was thinking and wondering where you got steel Ts that worked well with OEM clamps.

The actual size of the OE plastic Ts is 17mm x 17mm x 14mm. Occasionally you will see an eBay vendor selling metal Ts in the actual correct metric size but it's rare. I bought mine last year from a vendor called dormousesleep but they seem to have disappeared. If you get the correct size metal Ts the original clamps work just fine. The 5/8" x 5/8" x 1/2" is just too small.