help with my 89 5spd, coolant leak

meltboy11 · July 28, 2008, 11:15:34 AM

89 Grand Prix 5spd

Well I was drivin to school today and I noticed I had no power steering and when I look down and see that my temp is pegged... so I pull over, couldn't have driven on it for more than a couple min I think. Pop the hood, and just as I thought, my belt snapped. I call a friend and she brings me a new one, I put it on and drive home, which it did fine, I put about 40 miles on it since this happened. But the bad is that hose that goes from the water pump area to the heater core, well it was a small leak before, but after getting heated up it's leaking a lot worse now and I need to fix this.

I got inside and popped off some of the lower dash and took out the glove box, but I just can't find this hose as it comes into the car, and GM and their infinite wisdom made it one piece the whole way instead of a fitting outside the firewall... Anyone have any insight on this or maybe can scan me a page or 2 out of the haynes book so I don't have to go buy another one. I lost my damn book.

cobracmdr · July 28, 2008, 11:55:45 AM

Jim that steel hose is a piece of shit and is going to rot out if you replace it. In reality you have to remove the cover on the firewall behind the alternator (which is a bitch) then disconnect the line where it goes there the firewall in the center behind the EGR ish area.

The way I fix this shit, go to the store and get like 5 feet of 5/8 or 3/4 ( you will have to measure the pipe I forget what I use). Remove the clamp at the heater return pipe (duh right) then get your saws all or keyhole metal saw or hack saw if you can get it in there and cut the metal pipe about halfway up where you have it circled in the second picture. deburr it with some sandpaper or file then slide the hose up the pipe and clamp it. Then run it along where the other metal one was and zip tie it to the splash shield around the CV joint (make sure it is away from the cv joint!!!) then up to the heater pipe and clamp.

It will probably help to take off the computer cover. It is a pretty cheep and easy fix this way and almost every car I have had is fixed this way. Wrench up and good luck!

Ken

meltboy11 · July 28, 2008, 11:59:48 AM

cool, thanx, I got a similar suggestion on the w-body site. I don't want to go through all that shit, so what I will probably do it cut it a few inches out from the firewall and run some hose the rest of the distance.

cobracmdr · July 28, 2008, 12:04:03 PM

Yep that is the way to fix it.

TGPvsTIII · July 28, 2008, 07:42:29 PM

That steel line is not that hard to replace when we had Jimmys engine out we bumped it with the engine while putting the engine back in so we ended up replacing it with the engine back in there. Its not really that hard. Plus it took 18 years to rust out your new heater hose won't last that long.
Tim

meltboy11 · July 28, 2008, 07:52:52 PM

no probably not, but I'm sure it will last the year or 2 I plan to keep the car.

jerry455 · July 29, 2008, 04:26:55 AM

i bought a brand new one 4 years ago. last summer my daughter was borrowing my car and called to tell me there was a coolant leak. the pipe rusted through alreaddy. i also did the hose but i bought some of those new coil spring things that go over the hose to make the nice tight bend. i don't remember the name but i got them from auto zone.

cobracmdr · July 29, 2008, 05:32:28 AM

Sorry but you southern boys underestimate the salt factor in the Northeast. Replace it with that pos steel line and plan on doing it every year and a half. Where it is located it gets splashed with all the shit coming off the wheel going through snow and shit. That and the line is made out of cheep steel with crappy paint and a crappy welded bracket. They almost always fail at the bracket weld. The heater hose fix lasts many many years like once I fixed it with the heater hose I never had another problem.

It is not that it is that hard to replace the steel line, it is just stupid to replace it with something that will do the exact same thing next year.

Ken

TGPvsTIII · August 01, 2008, 07:59:12 AM

Quote from: cobracmdr on July 29, 2008, 05:32:28 AM
Sorry but you southern boys underestimate the salt factor in the Northeast. Replace it with that pos steel line and plan on doing it every year and a half. Where it is located it gets splashed with all the shit coming off the wheel going through snow and shit. That and the line is made out of cheep steel with crappy paint and a crappy welded bracket. They almost always fail at the bracket weld. The heater hose fix lasts many many years like once I fixed it with the heater hose I never had another problem.

It is not that it is that hard to replace the steel line, it is just stupid to replace it with something that will do the exact same thing next year.

Ken

I may live in Florida but ask the guys I work with they will tell you how much of a yankee I still am. I know all about salt I lived up there for 40 years. Probably more years them some here have been alive. If it is rotting away so fast coat the outside of it better then GM did before installing it. I would use a good undercoating. The inside should not rot out if you run coolant. The steel was put in these lines for road hazzards a rubber hose can't handle. When I look at buying a car seeing things like rubber hose where a steel line should be and other changes like that makes me think of Mickey Mouse and the more I see the more I back off of that car. Also statements like I only plan on keep it for 2 years makes me think the car is just getting patched until its for sale instead of being kept in good shape. The for sale thread will also say how great the car has been kept instead of it just being patched up since owned. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.
Tim

cobracmdr · August 01, 2008, 08:51:48 AM

meh I'm just saying the steel pipe is bad design, sure if you undercoat it before you install it will last longer but replacing it with a stock replacement steel line only to have it rot out again is a real pisser. I guess I never considered it hacking up my car trying to fix the problem for good, to each his own then.

Jim has now seen both side of the argument in fixing the problem so case closed.

meltboy11 · August 01, 2008, 09:38:16 AM

lol ya, thanx, but I am lazy and the simplest fix seems to be just a hose... :p

Prospeeder · August 05, 2008, 10:29:49 AM

my tgp had that happen too, the steel rotted out, it was pretty easy to replace. Just that little plastic peice on the side comes off, and u may have to the roll the engine forward, and then undo where it goes to the heater core behind the engine into the firewall, and thats all, I bought mine brand new from GM for 75$!!! but its all pretty and shiny black, lol.