Heater hose question

[sneitzel]

It appears that I have a small hairline crack in the flow restrictor that is the heater hose. That would be the one that flows out of the water pump, through the restrictor and to the heater core.

Question: Can that part be replaced on its own? It looks like the fittings on either side of it are press/crimp fit. If not how much of that line has to be replaced? I'm confused because both Auto Zone and Oreilly list 5 or 6 pieces to the heater hose plus I know part of it is hard line as well.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

It appears that I have a small hairline crack in the flow restrictor that is the heater hose. That would be the one that flows out of the water pump, through the restrictor and to the heater core.

Question: Can that part be replaced on its own? It looks like the fittings on either side of it are press/crimp fit. If not how much of that line has to be replaced? I'm confused because both Auto Zone and Oreilly list 5 or 6 pieces to the heater hose plus I know part of it is hard line as well.

It's supposed to be replaced as an entire assembly. Entire being the line from the water pump to the heater core and the line back. I bought the assembly. You can't buy that part separately. The hoses are crimped on.

But that said that assembly is a PITA to change. You have to remove the alternator and a few other things. Mine had a hole in the line from the water pump to the flow restrictor. I didn't feel like replacing the whole thing so I took a pair of wire cutters and carefully cut of the clamp on the flow restrictor. I went and got a piece of hose and used a regular twist clamp on the flow restrictor. I never had a problem after. You could do that on both ends. I wouldn't recommend bypassing the flow restrictor. I think you will start blowing up heater cores if you do.

[BrdWAtti2d]

Yea you can the restrictor separately, I did. One end snapped off on mine. But we have a non stealership AC/Delco parts house here who sell to the public. You would probably have to go to the dealer for it unless you have something like that there. The metal end crimps can be cut off with a hand grinder or dremel tool and then replaced with regular hose clamps.

[sneitzel]

It's supposed to be replaced as an entire assembly.

I was afraid of that. Is the flow controller available as a separate piece? If so, I think I could do something similar to what you did.

...that assembly is a PITA to change...

What on these cars isn't????

[Rob B (shoebox)]

All the rubber hoses can be replaced individually (remove as noted in the previous post). I think you can find the flow control at an auto parts store. Some people have just replaced it with a hose barb. Not sure what the long term implications are with doing that, though.

[BrdWAtti2d]

Wow, it's neither a pita nor expensive. Took me all of maybe 10 minutes to replace. See below