Hoses & Degas Bottle W/ Pics

[KyLSV8]

Long story short.

My 03 LS had the fun running on high constantly. I could here hissing coming from the thermostat housing area but not leaking that i could see. Not even on the ground.

Well i ordered upper and lower hoses, degas bottle, thermostat and housing.

Took the degas bottle off and it looks like this:

The degas bottle was not crimped but it was not flush anymore.


This me putting it back together:

Now the question i ask is
1. I got a little coolant on the belt will the belt be ok?
2. Should i have done the dccv or the aux pump?

 

[joegr]

1. The belt should be okay. If it is over 100K miles, then you may want to replace it anyway. It is easier to do while the radiator hoses are off.

2. If they're working and not leaking, then I would leave them be. The coolant outlet pipe and the thermostat housing I would replace.

 

[KyLSV8]

Thanks. Yeah they both work no leaks or anything. This car has a weird set up i can say that

 

[Jim Henderson]

You mentioned a hissing but could find no leaks near the thermostat housing. I am guessing it is the top of the coolant outlet pipe, second guess is the rear water outlet pipe slip joint.

Several of us have had a small crack open up in the Water outlet pipe. It is the complex plastic thingy that the thermostat housing attaches to. I think in your picture you can see it(left and above engine front center). Looks like you already disconnected it so maybe it is a good time to replace, expensive though. I think it is $150+.

The way to find the hissing where there is no steam is while the engine is running and you hear hissing... pour some water on the top of the water outlet pipe behind the thermostat housing. If you have a steam leak the water will blow all over. There is a fine seam front to back along the top of the coolant outlet pipe. That is where the crack develops and until it is really bad you may not see steam or water leaking from it, but the water trick will work.

Alternatively, if second and third degree burns are your thing, put your hand near the seam on the pipe and see it it burns. If you get a nasty burn you probably found the source of your hiss.

I and several of the guys are of the opinion that all these plastic pos pipes should be replaced at the same time since if one is bad, the others are probably not far behind.

There is a second coolant outlet pipe that attaches to the back of the front one and then angles downward to bolt to the top of the engine underneath the intake manifold and throttle body. It is a pita to remove, but chances are the lip of that pipe will have started to flake and break off. This will eventually leak at the back of the main coolant outlet pipe(it is just a slip fitting for crying out loud), so be ready to replace that one. Joe said he has a method that is easy to get at the back two bolts, hope he posts it. Doing it my way is no fun.

Good luck and welcome to the world of plastic wonders.

Jim Henderson

 

[tireman]

I wonder

i wonder if those pipes are just standard PVC pipes and can be repaired with PVC cement? Seems like you could fabricate one from common pipe from HomeDepot.

 

[KyLSV8]

Yeah i went ahead and changed it out. New degas bottle, cap, thermostat and housing, water outlet and cap, hoses and coolant. It was a pain.

 

[KyLSV8]

Also havent buttoned it up and ran it yet wont be until this weekend.