GM Plastic Heater Hose T-Fitting(s) Broke!

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GM Plastic Heater Hose T-Fitting(s) Broke!

It's not if, it's when. Well it happen to my 07 GMC Yukon(152k miles) while driving on a local hwy about 8 miles from home. By the time I got it pulled over(2 min) to a suitable place the engine was getting mighty HOT. With the help of a local neighbor & friend, I patched it up good enough to drive it home where I did a proper repair.

I installed a pair of GruvenParts.com billet aluminum GM heater core tees, silicone hoses, & worm clamps. What a PIA.

While I was at it I also replaced the 2 into1 heat hose with Y-fitting with a Dorman 626-553 that has a metal Y in it. Most replacements have a plastic Y. NAPA also sells it under pt# 827-5730-1. Also, replaced w/new many other coolant hoses, coolant, and water pump.

I hope this helps.

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Suburban and Tahoe's have rear heat so they have to have a tee for the rear core. The ac is just as bad in them.

I have replaced most of them on my 95. Luckily on it the tees are all steel so I could just shove the hose on them.
 
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Been there, done that. It's not a pleasant job.

Your repair looks good and should hold up just fine. Many people don't realize that these plastic parts have a finite life. They probably should be replaced at the 10 year mark.
 
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Indeed … at 100k I changed a bunch of the famous plastic on the Cruze …
none of it cost much and none of it hard to do … But bad day if you wait
 
aluminium flanges used to be common in the old days, I have all aluminium flanges on my car.

the modern pastic alternative is cheaper but also siginificantly more fragile.

I think we all know that metal > plastic
 
Last April I replaced all of those parts on my 09 Suburban as well. I also used that aluminum Y. I replaced all of the plastic parts with new OEM plastic parts. Those Tees are nice. Shoulda done it that way.
That was a fairly miserable job.
 
Drunken engineers at GM. I have seen more idiotic ideas with GM. Don't know what they were thinking. From plastic elbows to coolant tee's and fittings.
 
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Originally Posted by Lubener
Drunken engineers at GM. I have seen more idiotic ideas with GM. Don't know what they were thinking. From plastic elbows to coolant tee's and fittings.


The engineers at GM are good, it's the accountants that are drunk on the job!
 
This didn't take long … the only company in the world using plastic under the hood
 
Originally Posted by 4WD
This didn't take long … the only company in the world using plastic under the hood

Oh no there are others. It has everything to do with the type of plastic.
 
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This didn't take long … the only company in the world using plastic under the hood


That statement may require a bit of clarification!
 
Means plastic outlets and hoses between 5 years to 10 years or more are silent on maintenance plans … but need to be thought of. I changed plastic proactively after hearing about issues on this site.

You can randomly find system failures on Google

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Our Accord heater valve under the hood broke, plastic. Hardened up and became brittle I guess. I fixed it, the new Honda part was the same as the old one.
 
Seems belts and certain hoses have become better … but some plastic end device can be the weak link …
On the intake systems … they are using some hard plastic tubing in a very hot region under the hood.

Be good to hear from Trav and Clinebarger on what plastic fittings or hoses things fail after getting older …
 
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In a perfect world(definitely not mine:) I too agree w/Chris, those are great clamps. But, will I ever have a problem with the cheapos that I used? I don't think so. I also don't think I would have a problem in what's left of this vehicles limited life span replacing the plastic fittings with oem plastic. Sure would save me a bunch of $. Anyway, if I was to do it over again(NOT) I would go with their 2582 series lined worm gear clamps. If you knew what a PIA it was to get those 2 billet AL fittings installed w/the cheapo clamps, you would understand.

I went with the billet units because I could afford them, and to give engineers and accountants everywhere my middle finger for not doing a better job.

I have a turbo charged diesel engine in my MH that uses the various types of lined worm gear clamps that global sells.

My race cars are carbureted and use 100% aluminum AN fittings on for all of their plumbing needs.
Below: MH Charge Air Cooler
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Below: MH Radiator Hose
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Below: My Race Car Engine
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