Rear Heater Line Leaking

[Silversn95]

I have been losing coolant the last few months and finally found the culprit. There must be a pinhole leak in one of the coolant lines running to the rear heater unit. There are four lines running to the unit and one of them is wet with coolant and leaving a nice trail around the spare tire and frame/cradle of the rear differential. Since the Ex is getting old, I don't want to spend much to get this fixed. The leak appears to be coming from an area on the line just ahead of the spare tire. Has anyone had this issue and is there a simple way to fix this on the cheap? I am willing to disconnect the unit and go without it if it can be done and stop the leak. It looks like I go through about a quart or so every week from the recovery tank .

 

[thebrakeman]

Remove the spare tire and look for the leak source. If it can be pin-pointed, perhaps the section can simply be cut out, and replace with the appropriate size, high-temp hose & clamps. If it looks like the entire line needs replacing, and you can do it without too much trouble, maybe the line isn't too expensive.

If the entire line looks bad, or many sections of the same line, and you can't or don't want to replace the entire line...
Find a place ahead of the rusty/damaged area(s)
Cut both send and return lines
Bypass the entire rear sections with a 180-degree heater hose and clamps.
If the A/C lines are still OK, I would think they would still work.
Either way, you should still have use of the rear fan for circulation.

 

[gdgiordano]

Check the clamps! My front heater core hose was leaking on my 2010 when I purchased it. A clamp had slid a little. It was that simple and small.

 

[Silversn95]

I checked underneath and can pinpoint the area of the leak within a couple inches on the tube. It is just forward of the spare tire. The condition of the line looks good however, assuming it is stainless. Appears to be a composite line with a crimped rubber end for the bend up towards the heater in the rear corner. If I had to guess, the line is fairly expensive, especially if it is one piece running down the length of the body. There are four lines running to the heater and the one that appears to be leaking is the only one with a nylon sheath around it.
The leak seems intermittent however as there isn't always a wet spot under the suv. Would Bars or another stop leak work on this?

 

[tripplec]

No likely there. Look harder, check the afore mention area issues. Its a common leak area on these.

 

[Silversn95]

No likely there. Look harder, check the afore mention area issues. Its a common leak area on these.

It is clearly leaking from the rear end of the vehicle, under hood is bone dry. The lines are at a high point above the spare and only the one line is wet with coolant. I'd take a picture but I'm not crawling underneath again until the weather improves, the EX is filthy with salt at the moment.

 

[Dag06XLT]

Mine leaked above the rear axle from one of the rubber hose ends that attached to the aluminum pipes that go over the axle. The clamps were rusted and no longer providing pressure. Clipped it off and replaced with a new SS worm clamp, all fixed.

 

[pjw73nh]

Who was it who said "Timing is Everything" ?

Just yesterday when checking the washer fluid level on My 08 Ltd with rear heat and AC I notice the overflow tank was low (empty). I had put a new radiator in 10 months ago and all had been well since. I filled it back up (approx 1/2 gal) and the next morning I parked on a hill for about an hour. When I cam out I saw a puddle under the rear end. I crawled under and sure enough I am having the EXACT same issue as Silversn95 and Dag06XLT. EXACTLY the same place. Up over the axle, behind the spare tire where the rubber hose meets the aluminum pipe that runs to (or possibly from) the rear heater core.

The clamp appears to be rusty and wet. I am hoping it is just the clamp. Or, if it's the rubber too, I am hoping there is enough to clip the bad part out and still have enough rubber to clamp on to the aluminum pipe with a new clamp.

We've got 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and another 6 coming. As easy as it sounds, I'm not doing this job. I have a local (European) shop that I am friendly with that will do it for me Monday.

Again, I am hoping it is just the clamp. Does anyone know the ID for the rubber hose? I tried looking it up but not available. I'd like to bring a piece of hose and a coupler of the same diameter in case he has to "extend" it.

Thoughts?

 

[Silversn95]

PJW - we also have similar miles on our EX's, I'm at 202,000 kms, a little shy of 126k miles. When the weather improves I'm going under again and hope it is just a clamp as well but I swear the leak was a little further rearward on the metal section of the line. Just to clarify though, when you say just behind the spare are you referencing from the rear of the SUV? In vehicle position, my leak appears to be just in front of the spare, between the spare and the differential.

 

[pjw73nh]

Silver, Yes. I should have clarified that. It is between the spare and on top of the rear axle/diff. I believe we are talking about the same location. Dag06XLT's above, seems like it's right at the joint where the rubber meets the aluminum. IE the clamp. I am so hoping it is.

Having said that, here are the two part numbers (best I can tell) for the two water hoses for the Aux heater. 1L2Z-18472-HD 1L2Z-18472-GCA You can see them here Auxiliary Heater & AC for 2008 Ford Explorer | OEMFORDPART in the second diagram items 9 & 10 . Prices are not too bad (google them), but I am not sure what's involved in installing them. IE How accessible they are. Like you, I am not crawling under the beast until better Wx.

I TRULY hope mine is just the clamp for now.

As an side, I did have a leak in my aux AC high pressure line a few years ago. Pinhole. https://photos.app.goo.gl/7k0ZoldhJe5giF5n2 Shortening a long story after trying (unsuccessfully) TWO new AC lines, I cut a 1" section out and used a 5/8 medical grade compression fitting to connect the two ends. I'm on my 5th year with no leak.

 

[gdgiordano]

Silver, Yes. I should have clarified that. It is between the spare and on top of the rear axle/diff. I believe we are talking about the same location. Dag06XLT's above, seems like it's right at the joint where the rubber meets the aluminum. IE the clamp. I am so hoping it is.

Having said that, here are the two part numbers (best I can tell) for the two water hoses for the Aux heater. 1L2Z-18472-HD 1L2Z-18472-GCA You can see them here Auxiliary Heater & AC for 2008 Ford Explorer | OEMFORDPART in the second diagram items 9 & 10 . Prices are not too bad (google them), but I am not sure what's involved in installing them. IE How accessible they are. Like you, I am not crawling under the beast until better Wx.

I TRULY hope mine is just the clamp for now.

As an side, I did have a leak in my aux AC high pressure line a few years ago. Pinhole. https://photos.app.goo.gl/7k0ZoldhJe5giF5n2 Shortening a long story after trying (unsuccessfully) TWO new AC lines, I cut a 1" section out and used a 5/8 medical grade compression fitting to connect the two ends. I'm on my 5th year with no leak.

Like I said, it was the clamp on my front one. Ford used some chinsy stuff. Just go to your local hardware store and get a nice screw clamp that’s what I did

 

[pjw73nh]

Got it fixed this morning. As suspected. it was just the clamp. Only half of it was left. Gotta check the rest of the clamps when the Wx gets more hospitable.

 

[gdgiordano]

Got it fixed this morning. As suspected. it was just the clamp. Only half of it was left. Gotta check the rest of the clamps when the Wx gets more hospitable.

View attachment 155813

Just like I thought too. The clamps ford used all over the coolant system suck.

 

[07EddyB]

Good deal. Thanks for the follow up - I need to drop my spare anyway for regular maintenance. Now I have one more thing to check.

 

[gdgiordano]

Good deal. Thanks for the follow up - I need to drop my spare anyway for regular maintenance. Now I have one more thing to check.

I am thinking about preemptively changing all my clamps to nice screw ones.

 

[07EddyB]

When I changed my radiator and put new hoses on it I reused the OEM clamps. I know they have a bad rap but they have the perfect tension and a better, more even clamping coverage and pressure than worm clamps. They are a pain but perfectly useable.
Like any clamp they will eventually fail but be careful buying worm clamps - there are a lot of cheap poor substitutes out there.

 

[Silversn95]

Well. I wasn't so lucky. Coming home from work yesterday my Ex overheated. It happened close to home so I it could have been worse. So today I got underneath to find out what happened. It looks like the original slow leak was indeed a clamp but it was one of them above the rear diff. What caused the sudden coolant lose and overheating was the line connection to the heater. The friggin spigot the hose is clamped to actually cracked clean across. I found this when I went to replace the clamps. I took pictures but dont know how to post them. . I ended up just bypassing the heater and it seems ok now.