EA81 Heater Flush

[NV Zeno]

OK, I've been procrastinating doing this. I was checking around under the hood to see which tools I'll need, and other stuff to prepare for the job.

 

I noticed when I attempted to loosen the heater hoses from anything they're connected to, they're pretty much welded to the pipes. I'm hesitant to use much brute force to twist them to break up the crud that I'm sure is holding the hose to the pipes. I was thinking of maybe using something like WD40 or penetrating oil on the connection, maybe that'll help soften the crud.

 

Any suggestions/advice?

[rpholz]

just twist them side to side to break up the crud. or if your replacing them just cut a slice down the middle and peel off. i've never used anything to break them free before...

[TeamCF]

When I did my engine swap I replaced the hoses as well.

Mine were stuck on there pretty good.

If I remember right I was able to just twist and break free a couple connections and I also just cut a couple like rpholz said.

Plain old heater hose is usually cheap from an auto parts store and you can buy it in whatever lengths you want. I bought a few feet and some new clamps and just cut the sizes I needed.

 

But almost a year later and I STILL haven't quite gotten all the air out of the system. Can hear the bubbles come through the hoses at the firewall every so often.

 

I was told (from someone here) to raise the front way up high with a forklift and run it with the rad cap off..... I don't have a forklift!

[JacksonRally]

This will get the toughest bubbles out of any radiator.

 

I use this on our personal cars and our rally car and loan it out to friends for their cars. It IS the cats pajamas

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-24610-Spill-Free-Funnel/dp/B001A4EAV0

[TeamCF]

This will get the toughest bubbles out of any radiator.

 

I use this on our personal cars and our rally car and loan it out to friends for their cars. It IS the cats pajamas

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-24610-Spill-Free-Funnel/dp/B001A4EAV0

 

I'll have to look at that fancy funnel a bit more.

What the problem seems to be is that the heater hoses where they go through the firewall, are a high point on the EA81, other than the top of the radiator, it's the next highest point. And the core goes down inside, the hoses go down to the engine on the outside. And air gets trapped there. At least on mine it looks that way. So it makes kind of a ^ that traps air.

[GeneralDisorder]

You can slice the hose with a razor to get them off the nipple. But if there is that much corrosion it's time to wire-wheel those nipples and fill in any divets, etc with something like Devcon and then file it smooth so you don't have leaks in the future.

 

Replace the hoses with generic 5/8" heater core hose.

 

GD

[JacksonRally]

I'll have to look at that fancy funnel a bit more.

What the problem seems to be is that the heater hoses where they go through the firewall, are a high point on the EA81, other than the top of the radiator, it's the next highest point. And the core goes down inside, the hoses go down to the engine on the outside. And air gets trapped there. At least on mine it looks that way. So it makes kind of a ^ that traps air.

 

 

The funnel acts as the high point when burping the system. It allows for more than enough coolant to be added and when you see no more bubbles you put in a stopper and pop it off, virtually spill free.

[TeamCF]

The funnel acts as the high point when burping the system. It allows for more than enough coolant to be added and when you see no more bubbles you put in a stopper and pop it off, virtually spill free.

 

Cool. Yeah I looked around on the net and found a description of how it works. I'll have to pick one up.

 

Hopefully NV Zeno finds this info helpful as well to make things easy.

[NV Zeno]

All good food for thought..thanks.

 

It's starting to get warm around here, time to put the wagon into it's "summer hibernation" (no A/C), but I'm going to perform the flush shortly before that.

 

Those are standard 5/8 inch heater hoses, right?

[GeneralDisorder]

Those are standard 5/8 inch heater hoses, right?

 

That is the size, but the stock hoses are anything but standard (they are formed hoses with special bends in them). You can just replace them with generic hose though - get about 5 feet of 5/8" heater core hose. Works fine.

 

GD

[NV Zeno]

That is the size, but the stock hoses are anything but standard (they are formed hoses with special bends in them). You can just replace them with generic hose though - get about 5 feet of 5/8" heater core hose. Works fine.

 

GD

 

I replaced the stock formed hoses a couple of years/thousand miles ago. I'd kind of like to retain those, as they're in good shape (and don't interfere with the clutch cable).

 

There are a couple of shorter lengths of straight hose leading to/from the engine to short sections of pipe then to the formed heater core hoses..I'm thinking of disconnecting/replacing at that point..still 5/8, right?