Help with heater coolant line

thefrey · Mar 10, 2025

So I was laying on top of my engine fixing the dreaded exhaust manifold bolt issues and my elbow slipped only to get caught by a heater hose and I broke the connector. Pretty upset but it happens

What’s the best fix for this? Is it to buy a new coolant hose or is there something else?

rdezs · Mar 10, 2025

Pinch the two tabs on the broken off piece, push towards the firewall and then pull toward you and it should come off. Take it to your local auto parts store and match it to the one they're going to sell you. It will have a hose nipple on it for the heater hose to slide on, and use a hose clamp.

Judging from the looks of the other heater hose, I'm thinking you need a new set of heater hoses. One of them goes down to a Y fitting, where one part of the y connects to the water pump and the other part has a hose that goes up to the coolant reservoir. You'll get lots of feedback about reworking that y-pipe with an aftermarket metal one. I'm assuming you just need to get it going for now? If so, most auto parts stores have that heater hose with the y.

rdezs · Mar 10, 2025

Note: the heater hose that does not have the y usually comes with another quick connect fitting. Just pinch those two tabs, push towards the firewall and then pull outward and it should come off. If it's original it will have a spring clamp holding it to the fitting down by the water pump.

thefrey · Mar 10, 2025

rdezs said:
Pinch the two tabs on the broken off piece, push towards the firewall and then pull toward you and it should come off. Take it to your local auto parts store and match it to the one they're going to sell you. It will have a hose nipple on it for the heater hose to slide on, and use a hose clamp.

Judging from the looks of the other heater hose, I'm thinking you need a new set of heater hoses. One of them goes down to a Y fitting, where one part of the y connects to the water pump and the other part has a hose that goes up to the coolant reservoir. You'll get lots of feedback about reworking that y-pipe with an aftermarket metal one. I'm assuming you just need to get it going for now? If so, most auto parts stores have that heater hose with the y.

Are you saying the other one needs to be replaced bc it looks brittle?
I have some time for options of replacement as I'm driving a spare car rn. Probably going to order something

rdezs · Mar 10, 2025

Judging from the picture, it's well past its service life. Those cracks in it are definitely not a good sign. If your radiator hoses look similar, might as well do them at the same time.

rdezs · Mar 10, 2025

What year, make and model, and how many miles on it?

thefrey · Mar 10, 2025

rdezs said:
What year, make and model, and how many miles on it?

2013 Yukon XL Denali just passed 200k. I picked up the truck at 197 and it was definitely neglected so I’ve been trying to restore it and get a couple more years out of it

thefrey · Mar 10, 2025

rdezs said:
Judging from the picture, it's well past its service life. Those cracks in it are definitely not a good sign. If your radiator hoses look similar, might as well do them at the same time.

Preciate it. I think it’s a spot where I touched the hose and not a crack, I’d have to go double check though. Do you recommend going all OEM or is there any good aftermarket stuff

rdezs · Mar 10, 2025

Those plastic tee fittings at the firewall.... If they're original, there is brittle as the one you just snapped off. Nothing wrong with OEM, it'll last another 200,000. Aftermarket ones are known to fail much earlier, except for the metal ones. Those are a bit pricey.

Same thing for the quick connect at the end of the heater hoses. ACDelco, genuine GM or aftermarket metal ones.

Rockauto.com is your best source price wise, although sometimes I look up the part number there and then search it on Amazon. If you buy AC Delco on Amazon, make sure you're buying from the AC Delco store and not an aftermarket parts supplier that might have counterfeit parts.

rdezs · Mar 10, 2025

What you do moving forward depends on your plans for the vehicle and budget. I'm assuming it still has the AFM/DOD active? Where it switches to 4 cylinder mode at light cruise? If you want to keep it for another hundred thousand plus, make plans to delete that. Many write-ups on the forum detailing it.

Help with heater coolant line

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