PHH: Necessary Evil or a special gift from Satan? (1 Viewer)

[Cube Dweller]

With all the polls and recent HG implosions I decided to do the coolant service and replace the PHH. Our 80 is the main mall vessel for my 's

When I bought the 80 last year I ordered tune up parts from CDan, plugs, wires, gaskets, etc. I read the write up on here, printed the one from Christo's site, bought some new hoses, etc. I was ready.

After finally getting the old one cut off(major PITA), I moved on to trying to loosen the lower bracket bolt. I don't know how Powderpig/Robbie can do it w/out pulling the valve cover, I even tried welding a piece of roundstock to a box end of a cheapie wrench to get it to fit, no dice. My gear drive wrenches wouldn't work either, apparently I could not get >5 degrees of movement in the tight spot. So, valve cover removal time. Got the bolts out, tried to see if I could rotate the valve cover out w/out pulling the throttle body and of course it won't work. Just for grins I decided to see if I had a throttle body gasket in my box-o-goodies from last year. No dice.

So, the cruiser is down until the gasket comes in to my local dealer on Tuesday. The upside is, I'll now adjust the valves, clean the throttle body, do the tune up, and re-RTV the half moon pieces on the front of the head(they are leaking). Hopefully no more leaks and major PM for a while.

BTW, red coolant looked good, no sediment so far ~74K miles.

 

[hatfieldcb]

I just finished my PHH job. Woo hoo!! What a PITA!!!

I managed to do it without loosening the lower bracket bolt. The pipe rotated nicely for me without it. The clamp at the block nipple was tough; the clamp ends were rotated almost vertical. Dropping the tranny dipstick pipe was a big help. Even then, my meaty arms had a tough time getting in there. And I could usually only get one good eye on the job. The best tool investment I made was the hose pliers I got from Harbor Freight. That's what helped me get that inner clamp off. The best advice of the lot was to thread the new hose all (well, almost all) the way on to the pipe and then re-attaching the upper elbow heater hose and re-fastening the upper bracket. I got that from the 2nd write up on Christo's site. That re-aligned the pipe with the block nipple, and with the help of lots of lubricant, I was able to fairly easily slide the hose over the block nipple. I don't know how Robbie ever did it without removing the wheel & tire.

My hose looked clean, but it was bulging a little and there was some residue on the block side. I almost didn't do it, but I'm glad it's done. Hopefully it will last another 150k miles!! I may need some physical therapy, though.

 

[elmariachi]

I don't know how Powderpig/Robbie can do it w/out pulling the valve cover, I even tried welding a piece of roundstock to a box end of a cheapie wrench to get it to fit, no dice.

I didn't remove that bolt. I removed the hose from the downpipe and then uppermost bolt that goes from the top of the downpipe into the intake and then rotated it out of the way. Once I got the new hose onto the block, I had my lovely rotate the top back into place while I stabbed the downpipe into the PHH.

 

[hatfieldcb]

Jim,

You should have done a DVD. Really.

 

[elmariachi]

Jim,You should have done a DVD. Really.

Hatfield, I DID do a DVD. It starts with me lying on my back on my creeper. I crack the radiator petcock and the hose I have shoved up into the bottom of the radiator to direct the fluid slips out and fluid starts running everywhere. As I scramble out of the way to save my Sony camcorder the bucket goes flying and now I have 2 gallons of red all over the place and no time to tighten the petcock. So just 90 seconds into filming the "F" word count already exceeded an entire episode of HBO's "Deadwood." I did tape a little more, but I am fearful of psychological trauma so I haven't watched it.

 

[medtro]

Just for grins I decided to see if I had a throttle body gasket in my box-o-goodies from last year. No dice.

So, the cruiser is down until the gasket comes in to my local dealer on Tuesday.

You can probably reuse the TB gasket.

 

[miked]

Hatfield, I DID do a DVD. It starts with me lying on my back on my creeper. I crack the radiator petcock and the hose I have shoved up into the bottom of the radiator to direct the fluid slips out and fluid starts running everywhere. As I scramble out of the way to save my Sony camcorder the bucket goes flying and now I have 2 gallons of red all over the place and no time to tighten the petcock. So just 90 seconds into filming the "F" word count already exceeded an entire episode of HBO's "Deadwood." I did tape a little more, but I am fearful of psychological trauma so I haven't watched it.

dude, you've got to release a snip from this vid.
i've read the "There Will NOT Be A Pesky Heater Hose DVD" thread and ....
aw ca'mon.. give us a trailer. just a snip.
ca'mon...

edited to add: i'm about to do this PHH thing on my buddies '96 cuz i can't let him roll outta here with a PHH looking like his does. if i encounter a show stopper, it puts him behind sched for moving to VA.
i'm nervous bordering on scared.

 

[elmariachi]

dude, you've got to release a snip from this vid.
edited to add: i'm about to do this PHH thing on my buddies '96 cuz i can't let him roll outta here with a PHH looking like his does. if i encounter a show stopper, it puts him behind sched for moving to VA. i'm nervous bordering on scared.

I am blowing it out of proportion a bit. I have had great luck on this latest Cruiser....everything has gone smoothly in spite of this being my first summer in Houston (Hell). I had already had a long day when I tackled the PHH and I just got too hot in my garage. That and 20 kids blowing in and out on skateboards just had me.....twitchy.

I'll think about the vido clip. Don't want the whole world to see my "weak" side.

 

[hatfieldcb]

Hatfield, I DID do a DVD. It starts with me lying on my back on my creeper. I crack the radiator petcock and the hose I have shoved up into the bottom of the radiator to direct the fluid slips out and fluid starts running everywhere. As I scramble out of the way to save my Sony camcorder the bucket goes flying and now I have 2 gallons of red all over the place and no time to tighten the petcock. So just 90 seconds into filming the "F" word count already exceeded an entire episode of HBO's "Deadwood." I did tape a little more, but I am fearful of psychological trauma so I haven't watched it.

ROTFLMAO!! ;p

I took the tip of leaving my radiator cap in place when I drained the block/radiator.

Surely the end where you insert the tube is viewable?

 

[Rich]

No need to mess with valve cover to remove the lower bolt. If you can remove and replace the lower bolt, then removing and reinstalling the hose is much easier. I posted how to remove the lower bolt here: https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=585475&postcount=107

 

[elmariachi]

ROTFLMAO!!Surely the end where you insert the tube is viewable?

Ever seen the very sudden ending to the Blair Witch Project? That's how my video ends....right as I start to remove the f*&^%$g hose.

 

[Cube Dweller]

Done. Once the valve cover is off it's pretty easy. I ended up removing the metal heater pipe. I found it was easiest to install the new PHH on the pipe, lock it down w/ a hose clamp, thread the pipe back into position, then push the hose onto the fitting on the block. WARNING: if you have fat hands or fingers you may not be able to get the lower bolt threaded back into the boss. Incidently, the PHH was fine, no bulging.

The throttle body was nasty though, dirtier that most carbs I've rebuilt. When I bought it it had a new 'yota air filter.

 

[medtro]

I am blowing it out of proportion a bit. I have had great luck on this latest Cruiser....everything has gone smoothly in spite of this being my first summer in Houston (Hell). I had already had a long day when I tackled the PHH and I just got too hot in my garage. That and 20 kids blowing in and out on skateboards just had me.....twitchy.

I'll think about the vido clip. Don't want the whole world to see my "weak" side.

You can release it as PHH Rehearsal DVD

 

[JAPFPE]

I too just wrapped up the PHH replacement and utilizing HOUSTONFJZ80's (Brett's) blue silicon hose set-up with constant tension clamps. Pretty sweet looking set-up overall....too bad I'll never (hopefully ) see it again though !

After spending a fun-filled 12 hour day in May repacking the Birfields, I thought the horror stories of the PHH replacement must had to be over-rated. After replacing the plugs, downstream O2 sensor, and distributor cap I thought that I'd go after the PHH since I had a couple of hours to spare. Following the frustrating experience of draining of coolant (must be a way to catch ALL of it..), I accessed the PHH via the DS wheel well based on tips posted here. Removing the tranny dip stick tube was also a requirement as far as I was concerned unless you have hands the size of a 6 year old ballet dancer !Following a quick size-up, I decided to attack the hose clamp on the heater tube with the Dremel (gone in 30 seconds using a very cautious cutting speed). The engine side clamp was fortunately not totally rotated to the back of the engine so I was able to grab it with a pair of Channel-Locks to slid it off the hose. Next came the carpenter's knife which quickly sliced thru the old hose. The old hose was in really, really good shape. Looked like new except for some white discoloration on the interior of the hose where it is exposed to the coolant stream.

I removed the TOP mounting bolt for the heater tube which allowed the tube to be rotated such that I had a gap of about 1-1/4 in. between the engine stub and the heater tube. (At this point I had visions of completing the entire job in less than an hour ...). I grabbed the snappy little blue silicon hose and gave the interior a nice coating of orange Gatorade flavored siliva. I subsequently proceeded to push and twist the hose onto the HEATER TUBE with the idea that I would realign the heater tube to the engine stub and then slide the hose onto the engine stub completing the job 15 minutes later (clean-up time)....... I proceeded to engage in this activity of twisting and pushing the hose onto the heater tube and then attempting to align the hose on the engine stub for at least 20 minutes. Remembering another helpful hint from this board, I then ran inside the house to locate the bottle of "Personal Lubricant". After finding it and giving the hose another bath in friction reducing liquid, I again spent another 20 minutes trying to get the hose fully onto the heater tube and then aligned with the engine stub. The hose would not fully align onto the engine stub.

At this point I'm questioning WHY I decided to embark on this task given the "new" appearence of the original hose. My wife is also visiting me more frequently in the driveway asking "How's it going ?" and the infamous "Is everything all right ?" I attempt to explain to her that the hose could have blown at any minute stranding her within miles of the house.

Seeing the current evolution going nowhere, I decided to try another tactic and first placed the new hose onto the ENGINE STUB then onto the heater tube ......BINGO, on in 2 minutes ! So there you have it, the first time I've ever spent 2-1/2 hours with saliva and K-Y on my hand (s) !

 

[Rich]

If you want to gauge the actual condition of the old hose then slice it open from end to end, flatten it out, and while flat examine the inside for cracking. The hose fails from the inside out.

 

[alaskacruiser]

So I, too, have replaced my PHH with a silicone hose and constant tension clamps. Question: I know it was a good idea to change the old hose at around 60K as PM, so how long do you guys think I'm good for with this new setup?

 

[landtank]

The funny thing now is all you guys think your invinceable and will probably the ones who first re-experience a PHH failure cause the rest of use qare changing out the standard stuff regularly.

 

[Cube Dweller]

Man, I wish I had 1 1/4 inches of clearance between the pipes. After I removed the top bolt and rotated the pipe I had maybe 3/8's at most. That's when I decided to pull the pipe entirely.

 

[Archaic Aeronaut]

First time I heard of the PHH was while replacing a starter on LX450. Said to replace PHH while I had wheel off and starter off.
I took off a splash plate and was actually able to SEE the PHH. It didn't take me long to see how lucky I really was. PHH looked just fine so I'll take care of it next 100K.

 

[retrofive]

First time I heard of the PHH was while replacing a starter on LX450. Said to replace PHH while I had wheel off and starter off.
I took off a splash plate and was actually able to SEE the PHH. It didn't take me long to see how lucky I really was. PHH looked just fine so I'll take care of it next 100K.

Be careful, seen pics here on 'mud where the exterior looks fine, but literaly has been rotting from the inside out. Glad mine is done.