Heater Core Connector Tee, Which Size?

[gooffeyguy]

So the Gruvin Tee online for $79 is for TWO Tees ???

Unfortunately no, only one

2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon Denali XL
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

 

[donjetman]

They were $141 for two Ts delivered to my door 9 of 19.

 

[Foggy]

They were $141 for two Ts delivered to my door 9 of 19.

Yikes !! I'll have to thing about this repair for sure. I usually go overboard and overdo things,,, But 141 Vs 10 is a huge difference

 

[wjburken]

Yikes !! I'll have to thing about this repair for sure. I usually go overboard and overdo things,,, But 141 Vs 10 is a huge difference

With these parts, it’s all about the risk you are willing to take. If the plastic ones fail, you risk being stranded or worse yet, an overheated engine. The ones from Gruven likely will never fail.

I for one, would probably go with the Dorman brand plastic as I feel the risk would be acceptable, but I have never had to replace one yet so haven’t had to make that call.

 

[kbuskill]

With these parts, it’s all about the risk you are willing to take. If the plastic ones fail, you risk being stranded or worse yet, an overheated engine. The ones from Gruven likely will never fail.

I for one, would probably go with the Dorman brand plastic as I feel the risk would be acceptable, but I have never had to replace one yet so haven’t had to make that call.

Most guys on here will tell you to only go back with OEM plastic T-connectors. Their theory is that the factory T-connectors last 100k+ miles before cracking/breaking the first time.

Dorman replacements, on the other hand, seem to not last nearly as long. I can attest to this as I replaced my T-connectors twice with Dormans, and had failures, before finally talking to Paul about making these for us.

I personally cannot say whether or not the OEM plastic connectors are of any higher quality or not.

For me, I just don't trust the plastic ones after I had one snap off while pulling an enclosed trailer with 4 motorcycles in it up the side of a mountain. It dumped all the coolant in a matter of seconds. Thank God I was able to find an abandoned service station about a half mile up the road and pull in. I bypassed the heater core and refilled the coolant system from the melted ice in my cooler (it's a BIG cooler, lol) and luckily I didn't do any damage to the engine.

I learned along time ago that it's always cheaper to do something right the first time than to have to redo it again multiple times. For me I don't lose sleep over $200. It's worth the $200 to never have another "mountain incident" to worry about again.

But again, it's not my truck or my money so...

I do think, at the very least though, that I would opt for the OEM.

My 2 bits. YMMV.

 

[gooffeyguy]

I think it's a wash.

The gruven T's won't break but to install them it adds extra hose and hose clamps on all ends. Actually adding more points of failure if you ask me.

Instead of the factory T quick connecting onto the heater core barb, rear core hard line, and water pump hose, the gruven T uses short pieces of hose and hose clamps to connect to the heater core and rear core hard line, and you cut the quick connect fitting off the end of the hose from the water pump and use a hise clamp.

2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon Denali XL
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

 

[kbuskill]

I think it's a wash.

The gruven T's won't break but to install them it adds extra hose and hose clamps on all ends. Actually adding more points of failure if you ask me.

Instead of the factory T quick connecting onto the heater core barb, rear core hard line, and water pump hose, the gruven T uses short pieces of hose and hose clamps to connect to the heater core and rear core hard line, and you cut the quick connect fitting off the end of the hose from the water pump and use a hise clamp.

2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon Denali XL
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

All good points...

I still trust the short pieces of SILICONE hose to not dry rot or get brittle and break like the plastic T-connectors. And hose clamps are used on everything and have been for decades so no big deal for me there either.

 

[Geotrash]

+1 on the rationale behind the Gruven tees. I just ordered a set to proactively replace mine on our 2012 Denali ahead of the summer travel season coming up. The hoses and clamps aren't the source of risk with this system, it's the choice to use a type of plastic in the original design that is susceptible to degrading and fatigue over time. And the field evidence suggests that the Dorman parts use a plastic that's even more susceptible given the increased failure rates. For me, ~$150 for aluminum replacements is a no-brainer. I learned with aircraft many years ago that any time I can take a failure risk from low to zero - especially at a reasonable cost, it's worth it. There are places I drive with my family where breaking down would be dangerous.

Thanks to Ken for getting the idea off the ground with a manufacturer.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[gooffeyguy]

Of course, with aircraft if something fails it could mean falling out of the sky and death, not just having to pull over and either bypass the heater core or replace them, which is pretty easy with the factory quick-connects.

Do you use run-flat tires?

 

[Foggy]

Does anyone have a part # for the GM part #'s for these Tees ??
I've found the dorman and SKP .. But if i'm going to do plastic, I'd like to
stick with the oems