Finally got the first one off and it looks rough, cracked on every end and I was able to get my pinky in 2 hoses and feel broken pieces. Tried to get the hoses completely off but no luck, so shop vac'd the pieces out of one but didn't work for the other hose. I'm thinking some of the pieces in the hose going to the engine fell, possibly any serious damage from this? I dont want to install the new tee until i know for sure. Thanks.
Real Time: Heater hose tee's
- Thread starter wpsfan
- Start date
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I had the same thing happen to me, The little T's disintegrated in the hose. I actually was able to scrap out the pieces with a pick tool. I threw on a T I found from the hardware store and it seems to work. I order the real T's to replace the hardware store T's but I actually never swapped them out and they are still in my tool box in the back of the cruiser.
I assume it was like mine and only the hot T was fragile. If so, that line will be out-going to the heater cores and not into the engine/water pump. Any small pieces will likely just slightly clog up the heater cores (small radiators in the cabin) and not be a problem. If the pieces are large (you can tell by what you have left in your hand), they may clog up the line itself and that would be bad. If you can't remove the hoses entirely to flush it out, can you get small piece of hose duct-taped on your shop vacuum and get that on the heater hose to suck anymore out?
- Thread starter
- #4
Appreciate the replies, I will try the shop vac again, it looked like I was just pulling out coolant and no pieces toward the end. Man this is no joke, literally all of the clamps were facing the worst direction possible. Finally got both off now, the passenger side T looked much better except for one end looked really rough
I actually tried that method today, and removed about 2 qts. of coolant before i had a chance to turn off the shop vac. I'm still not sure if got all of the pieces, but it ran fine this afternoon.
- Thread starter
- #7
I don't think you can prevent it. Mine were broken already and the pieces were stuck inside the hose. I don't think me removing them broke them, but that has happened to people.
You could just remove all of the hoses(i tried but couldn't get them off by pulling by hand and with pliers) if you don't want to mess with the T's, honestly that's probably the best way to do it, assuming you can get the hoses loose.
Last yr when doing this, I decided I should just replaced all of them (hoses and T's) in one occasion, so what I did was to cut the hoses to make removal easier. I did not want to risk replacing the T's, and then the hose leaks later and I have to do this again. The location makes this job a bit difficult to do, and I just want to do it once. It should be good for the next 10 yr!
Also I find that serrated knife works better to cut these hoses.