Heater hose “T”

[adventurenali92]

2006 Yukon Denali LQ4 6.0,
pulled into the garage this afternoon and notice a puddle on the floor just below the skid plate under my front bumper…. It’s coolant… Ooi… looking around the engine bay this is the only thing that appears to be wet, I think these two hoses coming off the water pump are the hoses that go up to the heater core, is that right? Looks the fitting in the middle of the hose is where the leak is, is this the dreaded “T” fitting that I hear everyone talk about going bad? Right about where my thumb is on the underside of that piece in the third photo is where I think that coolant leaked out.

 

[gooffeyguy]

I believe Dorman makes a replacement hose for that and it also includes an aluminum T that people say holds up well.

 

[OR VietVet]

The other "T"'s are the ones at the firewall with rear heater

 

[adventurenali92]

It’s definitely leaking from the spot in the photo. Drove around a bit to go to the gym. and saw the drips. Thankfully we now have an autozone in big bear and it’s actually really good. They’re pretty knowledgeable and they had a replacement junction piece in stock. It’s metal. No hoses but the hoses on truck look fine so for now I’ll leave those be. So should hold up. It was $30, which from rock auto the same part was only $12. But then I’d have to wait for it to ship and probably pay a few bucks for shipping. I had a $20 rewards credit to use for autozone so after tax it was only 12 bucks and some change. Ended up being the same price as rock auto and I have the part in hand and can get it fixed in the garage this evening so I’ll take it lol

 

[adventurenali92]

The other "T"'s are the ones at the firewall with rear heater

Those are definitely dry. Lol.

 

[adventurenali92]

Will report back after I get it swapped this evening. Can’t imagine it’s too hard to replace but that’s what I have YouTube for haha

 

[OR VietVet]

Do the three ports, where the hoses slide on, have nubs for the hose to slide over and put the clamp behind or barbs?

 

[MassHoe04]

You are lucky! Yours gave you some kind of warning it was about to fail.
Mine just suddenly snapped off right at the end of the hose. The nipple broke clean off the T fitting.

 

[blueinkd]

Just buy a quality gates or continental stock replacement hose. I don't know that it's worth risking trying a Dorman fix for that. Definitely buy quality Ts at the heater core and don't go donkey balls on it when disconnecting those hoses at the core. Be patient there.

 

[89Suburban]

Will report back after I get it swapped this evening. Can’t imagine it’s too hard to replace but that’s what I have YouTube for haha

Please try to get us pics of the new part before and after the install?

 

[adventurenali92]

Just buy a quality gates or continental stock replacement hose. I don't know that it's worth risking trying a Dorman fix for that. Definitely buy quality Ts at the heater core and don't go donkey balls on it when disconnecting those hoses at the core. Be patient there.

When the heater core T fittings give out I’ll make sure I get the the right replacements and not dorman ones cuz that’s not a job I want to do twice lol.
Got the other connection deal swapped out. It wasn’t too terrible of a job but the factory heater core hoses were a pain the ass to get disconnected from the factory plastic connector at the water pump. They have barbed plastic inserts that the hoses go over and the barbed piece stays locked into the end of the hose. If I’d have known I had to dea with that I would have skipped that and just bought new hoses and replaced the heater core T fittings at the same time. But none of the videos I saw online talked about replacing the other fitting. Had I not had to mess with cutting those barbed pieces out of the hose the job would have been a bit easier. Although maybe not with the getting the other T fittings out… who knows…

Anyways after getting the barbed pieces out I mounted each hose and clamp to the new aluminum fitting, and mounted it back to the spot on the water pump. Didn’t have enough coolant to fill it back up at home, which I thought I did, so I had a buddy grab me a fresh gallon Friday morning. It’s all buttoned back up. The new fitting almost looks like it doesn’t stay in place as it wigged a bit. But the clamps are in pace and no coolant has raked after driving it yesterday afternoon, and back and forth to work today.

 

[OR VietVet]

When I have ran across the barbed plastic fittings that I want to get the hose off of, I have cut the plastic flush with the end of the hose and then used a C clamp to crush the plastic in side the hose and then dig the pieces out. I know the first thing you are thinking of is the pieces falling back down the hose. I thought of that too. I just make sure the end of the hose is pointed down and I use pinch pliers to block the hose and then just dig them out. I was worried that the plastic would cut the inside of the hose but the slow squeeze of the C clamp has never cut a hose.

 

[adventurenali92]

When I have ran across the barbed plastic fittings that I want to get the hose off of, I have cut the plastic flush with the end of the hose and then used a C clamp to crush the plastic in side the hose and then dig the pieces out. I know the first thing you are thinking of is the pieces falling back down the hose. I thought of that too. I just make sure the end of the hose is pointed down and I use pinch pliers to block the hose and then just dig them out. I was worried that the plastic would cut the inside of the hose but the slow squeeze of the C clamp has never cut a hose.

That would worked really well if I had the top ends of the heater hoses disconnected. Lol.

 

[iamdub]

When the heater core T fittings give out I’ll make sure I get the the right replacements and not dorman ones cuz that’s not a job I want to do twice lol.
Got the other connection deal swapped out. It wasn’t too terrible of a job but the factory heater core hoses were a pain the ass to get disconnected from the factory plastic connector at the water pump. They have barbed plastic inserts that the hoses go over and the barbed piece stays locked into the end of the hose. If I’d have known I had to dea with that I would have skipped that and just bought new hoses and replaced the heater core T fittings at the same time. But none of the videos I saw online talked about replacing the other fitting. Had I not had to mess with cutting those barbed pieces out of the hose the job would have been a bit easier. Although maybe not with the getting the other T fittings out… who knows…

Anyways after getting the barbed pieces out I mounted each hose and clamp to the new aluminum fitting, and mounted it back to the spot on the water pump. Didn’t have enough coolant to fill it back up at home, which I thought I did, so I had a buddy grab me a fresh gallon Friday morning. It’s all buttoned back up. The new fitting almost looks like it doesn’t stay in place as it wigged a bit. But the clamps are in pace and no coolant has raked after driving it yesterday afternoon, and back and forth to work today.

Is this a new offering from Dorman? I only knew of the complete assembly with hoses, which I bought for mine. I didn't like the cheap feel of the hoses, so I replaced them with Gates bulk heater hose from O'Reilly.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

"When the heater core T fittings give out I’ll make sure I get the the right replacements........" When they give out, I can pretty much assure you that you won't be at home, and it will be a complete cluster****. You should consider changing them, as well as the heater hoses themselves, before they do it for you.

 

[OR VietVet]

"When the heater core T fittings give out I’ll make sure I get the the right replacements........" When they give out, I can pretty much assure you that you won't be at home, and it will be a complete cluster****. You should consider changing them, as well as the heater hoses themselves, before they do it for you.

Just like I would do. replace before a problem.

 

[blueinkd]

When the heater core T fittings give out I’ll make sure I get the the right replacements and not dorman ones cuz that’s not a job I want to do twice lol.
Got the other connection deal swapped out. It wasn’t too terrible of a job but the factory heater core hoses were a pain the ass to get disconnected from the factory plastic connector at the water pump. They have barbed plastic inserts that the hoses go over and the barbed piece stays locked into the end of the hose. If I’d have known I had to dea with that I would have skipped that and just bought new hoses and replaced the heater core T fittings at the same time. But none of the videos I saw online talked about replacing the other fitting. Had I not had to mess with cutting those barbed pieces out of the hose the job would have been a bit easier. Although maybe not with the getting the other T fittings out… who knows…

Anyways after getting the barbed pieces out I mounted each hose and clamp to the new aluminum fitting, and mounted it back to the spot on the water pump. Didn’t have enough coolant to fill it back up at home, which I thought I did, so I had a buddy grab me a fresh gallon Friday morning. It’s all buttoned back up. The new fitting almost looks like it doesn’t stay in place as it wigged a bit. But the clamps are in pace and no coolant has raked after driving it yesterday afternoon, and back and forth to work today.

Is that what u replaced the plastic T with instead of just buying the complete hose assembly???? I hadn't seen that before. Looks like a a quick fix but also sounds like you took off the old hose and performce surgery on it.

Yeah the hoses at the heater core are a pain, which is why I said be patient. I should have mentioned heater hose disconnect tools make the disconnecting easier and u also needed a replacement quick connector on the long end of that hose. I did all those hoses and Ts in February to prevent surprises. Probably $100 worth of continental heater hoses and the Delco Ts.

 

[adventurenali92]

Is that what u replaced the plastic T with instead of just buying the complete hose assembly???? I hadn't seen that before. Looks like a a quick fix but also sounds like you took off the old hose and performce surgery on it.

Yeah the hoses at the heater core are a pain, which is why I said be patient. I should have mentioned heater hose disconnect tools make the disconnecting easier and u also needed a replacement quick connector on the long end of that hose. I did all those hoses and Ts in February to prevent surprises. Probably $100 worth of continental heater hoses and the Delco Ts.

Like I said I didn’t touch anything at the heater core as it wasn’t necessary. And yes the aluminum 3 opening fitting replaced the factory plastic one down at the water pump.

 

[adventurenali92]

"When the heater core T fittings give out I’ll make sure I get the the right replacements........" When they give out, I can pretty much assure you that you won't be at home, and it will be a complete cluster****. You should consider changing them, as well as the heater hoses themselves, before they do it for you.

This comment is just so helpful…. Thanks…..

 

[George B]

This comment is just so helpful…. Thanks…..

But it’s true. I am on borrowed time on mine. Gonna do them soon.