Coolant leak - Hole in tubing

[chris1434]

I have a 1999 Explorer 4.0 SOHC. It sprang a leak today in the tubing that connects the coolant hoses from the engine to the heater hoses at the firewall. For a better description, there is a metal bracket that mounts to the passenger side of the engine up near the manifold. Welded to the bracket are 2 metal tubes. One tube sits between one of the engine coolant hoses (5/8" ID) and one of the heater hoses that goes into the firewall. The other tube sits between the other heater hose at the firewall and the other engine coolant hose. It appears the bracket and the 2 short pieces of tubing (approx. 6 inches long) is one part. Anyway, the lower pipe developed a small pinhole and started leaking. I couldn't explain the part well enough over the phone to get the parts guy at the Ford place to understand what I needed but based on what he narrowed it down to, he didn't have any of those parts in stock. So as not to be stranded until I can drive to the dealership, I just used a short piece of 5/8" heater hose and connected the 2 hoses with clamps. I can't see where the tubes have any purpose other than to connect the two hoses so I am wondering if my temporary fix can be permanent. Any thoughts? I was also wanting to know if anyone could tell me what the part I need is called? I was describing it as "the bracket with the 2 tubes that connects the engine coolant hoses to the heater hoses". Also the tubing appears to be metal. I was also thinking of using JB Weld or something on it. Opinions? First time poster so thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[Dopler174]

Do you think you could lube it up with some grease and slide a hose over top of the hole and clamp it down? It could be a quick more permanent fix.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! A rubber hose with 2 clamps as you described sounds like the best solution. Don't use epoxy to seal a hole in the metal piping.

 

[chris1434]

Coolant leak

Do you think you could lube it up with some grease and slide a hose over top of the hole and clamp it down? It could be a quick more permanent fix.

Unfortunately the leak is on the inside corner of a 90 degree elbow. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[chris1434]

Coolant leak

Welcome to this forum! A rubber hose with 2 clamps as you described sounds like the best solution. Don't use epoxy to seal a hole in the metal piping.

Thanks for the welcome and quick reply. I can't see anything wrong with my workaround but I also can't figure out why Ford went to the trouble of using the metal tubes when the heater hose seems like a good approach (and certainly less expensive). I won't use epoxy per your suggestion. Would any other type of repair work?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Could you get a small tubing cutter in there to remove the broken tube, and connect a rubber hose onto each end to bridge the gap? If the distance is close enough, you could use a brass compression elbow providing that you could get the exact size.

 

[chris1434]

Coolant leak

Could you get a small tubing cutter in there to remove the broken tube, and connect a rubber hose onto each end to bridge the gap? If the distance is close enough, you could use a brass compression elbow providing that you could get the exact size.

I will take a look. If I couldn't get the cutter in there with it installed, I could probably remove it and then cut it. Only consideration I can think of then is I would have one extra joint/coupling in the line since the heater hose coming out of the engine has zero extra length. So if I cut the tubing, I would have to add a short piece to the heater hose to reach the shortened tubing. Any idea what this part is called? Have you seen the one I am talking about? Just curious as to Ford's purpose.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Could you post or link a picture?

 

[chris1434]

Coolant leak

Could you post or link a picture?

Hopefully these pictures look okay and apologies in advance for crude photo markups.

In the tubing.jpg, 1 is the end of the tube that connected to the hose coming from the firewall and 2 is the end that connected to the engine heater hose. If you look carefully around 2, you should be able to see the hole in the tube. Also, if you look above the lower tubing, you will see the 2nd tubing with the hose still connected on the left side. This runs to the firewall. The right side turns and runs behind the alternator.

In the heater_hose.jpg, 1 and 2 are the two ends and 3 points where the tubing is located.


http://users.hargray.com/chrish434/tubing.jpg
http://users.hargray.com/chrish434/heater_hose.jpg

 

[TedJ]

I don't know if this is related, but i think its the same idea. On the Ford 3.8 (worst POS ever made) there are two of the pipes sort of like what you are talking about. They were both rusted and the hose parts were really bad, (were doing a head gasket and took them off) and neither me or my friend could see any reason not to just run a hose up and around the side of the engine.

I do not see why it matters as long as the hose connects what it is supposed to, and stays away from anything hot, that you can't totally bypass the metal thing. Only consideration would be possibly creating a airlock if the hose ends up higher than the radiator cap.

My only thought as to why ford did it that way is if there was an external hose, it would get in the way of sticking the engine in on the assembly line, and going through the center of the engine created too much heat for a hose, so they made the metal part. I'd love to find out what the real reason is from someone at ford.....

-Ted

P.S. We never got to finish that head gasket job, kid decided to junk the car

 

[chris1434]

Thanks for the comment about the airlock. I had not thought of that. I will check to confirm I am okay. Your explanation does make sense as to why they may have gone this route. Who knows if that's why but it could be the reason.

 

[TedJ]

When I posted, I had not seen the pictures yet...It does not look like there is any reason you cant just bypass it with a hose. I would do that and not worry about it, just keep it from rubbing on things and away from the engine / moving parts.
I would be concerned as to WHY the pipe rusted out in the first place. If you haven't changed your coolant in the past two years you should

-Ted

 

[BrooklynBay]

I'll put the pictures here: