My Ranger's upper heater core hose decided it's time to retire, luckily only about a mile from home. It cracked at the T-joint where the circulation line runs around the throttle body for de-icing, and dumped quite a bit of coolant. AutoZone wants $52 for a pre-made hose. I'd rather not pay $20+ for convenience if it's not that much of a pain to make one myself. The actual heater hose is 1/2"outside diameter, and the throttle hose is 1/4" outside diameter. Would I use a 5/8"-5/8"-1/4" Tee to assemble the hose sections, or a 3/8" ? 1/2" Tees don't appear to be a thing. I can get a metal Tee at NAPA and will probably never have to think about it again if I go this route.
Thanks!
Use a pre-molded one
you can get a pre molded one at rock auto for $13.60
I yanked the hose assembly out today and AutoZone wanted $108 for the assembly that's bad. I found it on RockAuto for $33 after tax and shipping. $108 is ridiculous for rubber hoses, I bought 2 cast iron rotors for less than that, and that's a lot of metal, lol.
Premolded is the better choice.
I got a pre-molded heater hose from RockAuto, I saved almost $84 over AutoZone and just finished installing it. When I go to bleed the air out of the heater core again, do I just top off the radiator and overflow reservoir, then just let the engine run with the radiator cap off, and add coolant as the water pump kicks the air out?
With the engine off, put your temperature selector to max hot. Try to get the front of the car higher than the rear, either by parking on an incline or using a jack. Fill the radiator slowly. Your reservoir should be filled to the cold mark. Start the car and add coolant as the level in the radiator falls. When the coolant is about to overflow the radiator, put the cap back on. Once your temperature guage shows normal, turn the heater fan on and see if you are getting hot air from the vents. If you are not, you still have trapped air. If good, shut the car off and let it cool down. Add to the reservoir as necessary.
I drove up on my set of rhino ramps and let it run until the temperature went to the middle. It held normal well, and there is warm air in the cabin. The coolant intermittently builds and overflows the radiator. Does that mean there's still some air in the system, or is it the system trying to pressurize?
it's fine. That's just the thermostat opening. Sounds like you're good to go.
Cool, I'll keep an eye on the level over the next couple days and see if it goes down at all. How do you clean antifreeze off of the street? A decent amount came out when I moved my truck to where I parked it on Monday and I would say it's not good to let wash into the drainage system.
Dilute with lots of water.
The best way is not to let it hit the ground at all.