Heater hose between engine and firewall

[toddlnrd]

It appears the old girl has a leak in one or both of the heater hoses that run between the engine and firewall. I have rear heat in my '99 Suburban.

They need to be replaced. Any advice or tips?

I will not get a chance to crawl under the truck until Saturday, but I assume it is pretty straight forward. But, I have been very wrong before!!

Looks like 3/4" heater hose.

Thanks,
Todd

 

[Will L.]

do some reading on leaking "t" fitting before you start. That's where my $ is.

 

[toddlnrd]

Thanks Will.

I have checked those already. It was my first thought as well. I do plan on replacing them with brass in near future. I did replace them a few years ago with plastic fittings.

Todd

 

[FellowTraveler]

I had what I thought was a heater hose leak it turned out to be a small pin hole in the heater core coolant dripped slightly outside but made a puddle under the carpet on pass footwell.

 

[WarWagon]

Some heater hoses are high temp silicon due to the exhaust downpipe heat. You may need to source parts from the GM dealer. Also I recall the heater hoses are different sizes coming off that dammed "T". The factory "T" also has flow restrictions in it.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

ALL of the diesel SUBURBAN's used the high temp high heat silicone heater hose for the rear heater core. It should be either green or blue, but is a purosil type of hose. Don't cheap out and use regular heater hose for the lines from the tee down. GM spent the money for PUROSIL for a reason, it NEEDS them.

 

[toddlnrd]

Is that a dealer only item or can I get that at the local parts store (Autozone, Advanced, O'Rileys...etc)?

 

[WarWagon]

I doubt you can get the high end hose at budget auto stores. Maybe a speciality hose shop or go GM dealer and it may be GM Vintage parts at that. LMC truck? I wrapped the exhaust, headers and turbo and even then I wouldn't run a lesser hose.

 

[Will L.]

The other place to get it by the foot is semi truck shops ie peterbilt, kenworth. Locally we have a place called house of hose.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I buy mine from a local hos shop, but large trucks also use it because it is GOOD stuff. GM will RAPE you WITHOUT lube for the hoses individually whereas a hose shop shouldn't be more than $2 a foot or so for it.

 

[toddlnrd]

It is 3/4", correct?

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

It is 3/4", correct?

I'm pretty sure everything from the tees back from the engine and radiator is 3/4". Can't remember if it is 3/4" 5/8" to the radiator or not.

 

[jrsavoie]

Google it. If you have time to wait, you can probably order it off of Amazon. I order as much as possible. It beats driving at least 50 miles round trip to get anything. Not to mention if I go to town, I take a list and it takes me another 2 hours