Silicone Radiator and Heater Hose Kit... anyone tried it yet? (1 Viewer)

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I did a quick search and got no results. Has anyone installed one of these silicone radiator and heater hose kits? Of course it's on Ebay. I need to do the radiator and timing belt shortly and am considering this. In theory these hoses are a little tougher, last longer, and are more flexible than rubber. I've used them on other project successfully.

HPS Black Silicone Radiator+Heater Hose Kit for Lexus 98-07 LX470 4.7L V8 | eBay
 
Try them and report back how quality they are and how they hold up. I used silicone hoses like this on my diesel build, but am wary to go anything but OEM on my Toyotas.
 
Saw the hose linked is HPS which is not made in China and is high quality. Go for it.
 
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I'm running a set in my 80 - took couple of days to get everything torqued so they wouldn't leak- been great after that
 
Not in the truck, I do run them on my off-road bikes(if that counts for anything). For $218.00 however, I am suspect of the quality. Considering how long OEM last, I hadn't considered silicone for the truck.
 
Follow up to this thread. I was ready to purchase and saw these on Amazon, but there was a seemingly credible review that said the heater hoses were uniformly too big in diameter.

I sent a note to the manufacturer and got this:

"Our R&D team is aware of the mentioned issue and has been working on a fix on the heater hose kit (the radiator hose kit has no issue or complaint). The issue seems to affect certain year of the vehicle.

Please do not purchase the radiator hose + heater hose kit yet until we have a fix on it. We already notify all our vendors to stop selling such item."​

I know a couple of folks have installed these, saw the pics in the big heater tee thread. Did you have problems there, or just crank down on the clamps, or ?
 
In my bmw, yes. In my Toyota? No. Toyota makes fantastic rubber. No need for this application.
 
I'm running a set in my 80 - took couple of days to get everything torqued so they wouldn't leak- been great after that

if you use constant tension Clamps you won't have to do this.
 
I did end up buying this HPS silicone hose kit not long after I made the original post. Everything fit pretty well. The screw clamps included in the kit are good quality and the right diameter for every hose. This is important because the outside diameters are different, therefore your OE spring clamps won't work. I did not have any leaks or issues and everything is holding up well more than 1 year later.

Here's a shot of the upper radiator hose.
oGTn5HW.jpg


There were a few small disappointments.

  • One of the heater core t-hoses that didn't have the right bends.
nbb1IrI.jpg

  • Only one of the throttlebody water circuit hoses was included.
  • None of the oil cooler hoses on the engine were included. This was the biggest beef. The OE originals were stone hard, expected from 17 years and 210k miles of heat cycles.
That said, I'd buy this kit again and would recommend to anyone. Silicone stays flexible longer than rubber. I generally pick it for that reason alone.
 
My take: Don’t buy HPS... buy OEM. First, HOS customer service sucks (try and do a return — it’s a nightmare). Second — and I’ve seen it written multiple times on Mud — I like to view it as a system; not individual “upgrades”. If OEM is solid (and it generally is on these trucks), I’m not going to another vendor.
 

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