Broke coolant hose to manifold!!

**philosofy1** · 08-16-2009, 11:06 PM

I have been working on my truck for some time now. I had some stuff go bad that took me off track but now i'm back on it. One of the many things I have to replace is the coolant hose that bolts to intake manifold. It was corroded and brittle. I soaked some PB Blaster and let it sit for about an hour, didn't apply to much pressure and it broke right off.

Now, I had a mechanic take a look at my truck (1999 Chevy 1500 1/2 ton w/ a 350) back when the fuel pump was acting up. He saw the hose and told me if the fitting broke I would have to replace the whole manifold. He's also the one who told me that I shouldn't replace my own fuel & oil pump.

So, is there any tool or technique that I can use to remove the rest of my fitting and install an new hose???

**2COR517** · 08-16-2009, 11:20 PM

I have been told those are held in with a loctite type of product. Keeps the fitting from galling to the manifold, but really glues it in. Warm it up, like with a small butane torch/lighter and chip out the piece left inside with a small hammer and chisel.

**philosofy1** · 08-16-2009, 11:26 PM

Cool, I was going to drill it out alittle. But the chisel sounds alittle better. The aluminum is softer than the manifold.

What about the pieces that fall into the manifold? Would I be able to suck up as much as I can with a vaccuum?

**azdrtdog** · 08-18-2009, 12:22 AM

STOP.... you only get one chance at this very common prob with the vortech what your looking at is a sleeve thats threaded and fused take a small flat punch and fold it into itself it will go kinda easy after u fold it in bout half way it will release and u can unthread it with needlenose takes five minutes dont booger the top threads in the man.drive the punch at about 45deg. down and into the hole take small bites till you get a larger one to fold

**philosofy1** · 08-18-2009, 11:34 PM

Thanks for the replies guys, So I went ahead yesterday and started to hit it with a punch. I chiseled away until it was flush. After that I couldn't grab it with anything, so I went to Sears and got me a 1/2" drill bit and drilled away. It broke of the remaining parts of the fitting exposing the threads.

The threads were alittle damaged, but nothing a tap wouldn't fix. Once that was done I headed to the part store and got a 1/2" heater hose fitting, used some teflon tape and a regular heater/ coolant hose with some clapms and it solved the problem.

Thanks again.

**alberto3a** · 08-25-2009, 04:17 AM

So i followed the info given here regarding the fitting. But when i chiseled the broken part, a big chunk went inside the hole and couldn't get it, i can't even see where the that chunk went. Am i doomed?!!

**azdrtdog** · 08-25-2009, 05:40 PM

sorry to hear that alberto.i would'nt say your doomed but that piece will head towards the thermostat where it can get stuck and keep the stat open it will never make it to any other moving parts though.try taking out the stat and duck tape a 3/8 fuel line to a wet/ dry vac hose try probing in the stat opening towards that area and see if you can get it

**mrfixdit** · 08-25-2009, 06:51 PM

So sorry I did'nt find this post soon enough to help but maybe my tip could come in handy for someone in the future. When I replaced that stupid cast metal fitting with a real steel one I pushed a wire tie through a sponge to use as a grip then stuffed the sponge down the hole so if any small pieces came loose while chiseling they could'nt fall far and were easily picked out with the ol' needle nose pliers. When finished a small tug on the wire tie and the sponge comes right out.

**azdrtdog** · 08-25-2009, 08:41 PM

that there is a thinker gentlemen...and i would bet his garage is well kept

**alberto3a** · 08-28-2009, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by azdrtdog

sorry to hear that alberto.i would'nt say your doomed but that piece will head towards the thermostat where it can get stuck and keep the stat open it will never make it to any other moving parts though.try taking out the stat and duck tape a 3/8 fuel line to a wet/ dry vac hose try probing in the stat opening towards that area and see if you can get it

Thank you for the advice. I'll try doing this and perhaps replace the thermostat in the process.
BTW, the temperature guage reaches only between 50 and 80degrees celsius, I was wondering what temperature should the engine maintain for optimum performance? Thanks again.