How to: Replacing the coolant degas tank

Justin00LS

Justin00LS

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Just a quick and dirty how-to for those thinking about replacing the coolant degas tank. My tank was leaking and had numerous cracks throughout, and it had to be replaced.

Steps:

1. Remove wipers
2. Remove plastic cowl under wipers
3. Remove the two bolts on the brace that connects to the shock towers. (You do NOT need to remove the entire brace...just the two bolts. I broke a bolt and had to replace it since they are rusted into place. I recommend getting a torch to heat the bolts from underneath the wheel well. Once heated, they are easy to remove)
4. Prop up the brace.
5. Disconnect tank and pull it out.
6. Reverse to reassemble.

It can be very tricky to get the old hose off the tank and the new hose and hose clamp back on. I used a string and noose setup and it worked nicely.

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good write-up.

there is a coupling about mid-point under the cowl that you can undo, pull out the tank with the 2' of hose attached to it. Move that hose over to the new tank and the feed it back and recouple.

It's a lot easier than trying to attach the hose to the bottom of the tank, that does not have enough slack to get your hand in.
 
Another approach is to leave the bottom hose connected to the tank and disconnect that hose where it attaches to a metal tube at the firewall by the brake booster. If you get the new tank from Ford, then it comes with the lower hose already attached anyway.

Also, if you live somewhere that they don't salt the roads, then all of the brace bolts should come out easier than propping the brace up would be to do.

Update: I guess Quick was quicker.
 
Not bad. Looks pretty good. I bought my tank with new hoses so maybe I'll take some pictures of the differences and post them.
 
Also, unless you siphoned out the coolant in the bottle, prepare a tray or something to catch alot of coolant...

For some reason my coolant just POURED out of the bottom hose once I pulled the tank off... I thought it was never going to stop
 
Andrizzle said:
Also, unless you siphoned out the coolant in the bottle, prepare a tray or something to catch alot of coolant...

For some reason my coolant just POURED out of the bottom hose once I pulled the tank off... I thought it was never going to stop
Click to expand...

Mine drained out of the tank pretty well through the radiator drain, but I did have the car parked facing downhill.
 
bump to show the FNG's that a simple search can yield some excellent results, and not have to start a new thread. I just bought my new degas bottle (dorman part from oreilly's), and am going to swap it out when I get home.

Question though. someone want to tell me how to remove the wipers? I'm assuming it's more than just "pull hard". Just don't want to break something.

TIA.
 
Take the little cover off, screw them off and I use leverage to push up. I tried puling up but there are in there pretty good.

Also, whats an FNG?
 
FNG = F*cking New Guy. got it from missing linc. lol.
 
Oh.lol. Got it. I was trying to relate it to F*ing Noob somehow but the "G" threw me off.
 
Alax7 said:
Take the little cover off, screw them off and I use leverage to push up. I tried puling up but there are in there pretty good.

Also, whats an FNG?
Click to expand...

I used a small gear puller to get mine off, they were on really tight.
 
I have very limited tools, so no gear puller here. Maybe my brother in law has one.
 
Thanks for the link, Joe. I'll stop by the parts store on the way home to see what they have.

I completely agree about buying the tools one at a time. But I have no place to put them. I need a decent tool chest. All I have right now is 3 tool boxes. One with electrical stuff, one with mechanic basics, and one with woodworking/carpentry stuff.
 
Solution to problem

Hey, Pek---
Two choices. You can come and use my tools or buy some and store them in one of my boxes!:D:D
KS
 
lol. Thanks for the offer! My car would go through a hell of a lot of coolant on a trek to detroit!
 
damn it sucks not having proper tools. i don.t have the proper pliers for removing those clamps. I.m still wrestling with the one by the fire wall. Must be a good 30 minutes now.
 
Just attack it from the wheel well, there is a cutout there for when the dealer does this.
 
tried that. The geniuses before me put the release points to clamp on to on the opposite side, so it's physically impossible to reach. Guess i.m calling it quits tonight. Gonna buy the proper spring clamp pliers tomorrow.
 
They have special set of pliers to remove windshield wiper arms, they are made by Lisle tools. I got a set about 25 years ago, I used them about 10 times over the years and what a lifesaver they have been. They must have cost me about $10.00, back in the day. Just a little advise about buying tools. If you are only going to use once or twice then buy cheap, if it something that you will be using quite often then buy good stuff (American Made).
 
When i stopped by the parts store to check out the gear puller, i found one specifically for removing wipers. They wanted 30 bucks for it. But what i did find out about my wipers was that they actually just sit a little crooked on the post. If you look at them closely you can see it. Just twist it properly, and they come right off. At least mine did.
 
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