How to: Change the long coolant or booster line in the driver side sill

Let me just say that this is not for the faint of heart. Changing this coolant hose was pure hell so if you can pay someone to do it I suggest you do that. If I didn’t have to replace the hose I would have just left it in place.

The process:

I tried the same method as described in other posts here on the boards:
Disconnecting the hose
Removing the front and rear wheel well
Connecting one end of the old hose to one end of the new hose and pulling (with all of your strength) from the engine end.

That didn’t work. The old hose would not budge a bit. If it works for you,.. Congratulations. You just saved a ton of time. I really didn’t want to remove the fuel tank or pull up carpet to reach that tiny access panel that is right at the A frame bend. So being stuck, I decided to move the drivers side gas tank.

I MOVED it, not removed. You need to disconnect all of the fuel lines that connect to it in addition to moving the oil cooler by unbolting it and pushing it aside. This will give you a little more space but not much. It gives the hose a bit more room to find its way out and more room for your arm to reach down the side of the car.

So with the fuel tank out of the way, a squirt of dish soap and water and the two hoses connected (by zip tie and duct tape) I started the pull. Success…until it just made its way through the final 2 bends at the back…that’s when the two hoses broke apart leaving me with 2 inches of new hose hanging just over the A frame.

So I was stuck now.

I tried to fish my steel electrical fish tape through the hose so I could pull some rope through and that did not work in those 90 bends near the back. I needed something ridged yet flexible enough to make its way through the hose. So went to the Depot and got some .95+ trimmer line and that did the trick.

Step 0
I fished the trimmer line through the new hose and once it was out the other end I pulled the new hose completely out and left the trimmer line fished through the hose passage. So now there is NO coolant hose in there at all.

So here is the new process that worked when the existing one didn’t.

Step 1
Get 60 ft of rope that you can fish through the hose.

Step 2.
Fish the trimmer line that is currently fed through the hose passage in the car (keep it that way, keep it in there) and feed it through the new hose that is laid out (straight) in front of the car.

Step 3
Once the trimmer line comes out the other end of the hose tie, tape or whatever the trimmer line to the rope and pull the rope through the new hose. So now there is rope pulled through the new hose and the trimmer line is out but still fed through the passage of the hose in the car.

Step 4
This is a little tricky to explain but the goal is to pull the rope through the hose passage in the car using the trimmer line to do so. You also want to make sure that the trimmer line stays fed through the passage just in case you need to re-feed the hose/rope later.
Feed the trimmer line so you can feed the rope through so you can feed the hose through.
SO, the trimmer line always stays in the hose passage until the end. TO DO THIS… pull twice the amount of trimmer line to make it through the car out the front end of the passage. Next tape, tie or whatever the trimmer line (not the end of it, but the middle portion that should be near the front wheel well) to the end of the rope and pull it through the car. Once it’s through you can disconnect the trimmer line unless you did what I did and that was weave the line through the rope. I wasn’t able to separate the 2 after the pull but it didn’t cause problems.

Step 5
Now that the rope is through the passage it’s time to connect the rope to the new hose so you can pull it through. SO, again… you should still have trimmer line fed through the hose passage in addition to the rope still.

There is room for interpretation here but this is how I did it.

I spiral sliced about 2 inches of the hose end
Next, I tied and wrapped about 1.25 inches of twine around the rope and made sure that is was secure and would not slip.
Next, feed the twine wrapped section into the hose just beyond the spiral cut section. Now roll the sliced end of the hose around the rope like you would roll a piece of paper into a cone. Keep that pinched around the rope and place a zip tie over it and cinch it. Now place 2-3 more zip ties over the end of the hose as well (all tabs should be in line). This will keep the rope from pulling through the hose when you place force on it. The thicker part of the rope with the twine will butt up against the narrow section of the hose where the zip ties have cinched it.

IMPORTANT! Use wire pulling lube or dish soap to coat the hose. It will never work w/o it.

Now it’s time to pull. The rope WILL hang up on sharp V channels on its way out the back near the A pillar. Shine a flashlight down in there and you will see where it’s hung up. Stick your hand in there and help it along. Then you will eventually get a smooth pull and a sudden stop. That stop is the hose with the zip ties hitting the first 90 bend. You have to pull with all the strength you have to get it to budge. The rope/twine lock will hold so don’t worry. PULL and you will eventually break through and get it through the first bend. I ended up not pulling from the side of the car through the wheel well but fed the rope up and out of the engine bay as you can see. This gave the hose a better natural path to follow. If progress stops mix up some water and dish soap 50/50 and put it in a squirt bottle. Squirt some of the liquid down in the area where the hose comes over the A pillar. Wait 3 min and pull again. You should have success on your next several pulls. It’s really hard to get through but just before your hands are about to break off it’ll pull right through.

Good Luck
Steve
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great post!

 

Hi Steve,

Great photos. If i laid a six pack of bud light on you, do you suppose you could do my 77

chris

 

everybody has their price right? I'll do it for a keg...of whiskey.

 

Would you like payment before or after the hose job

chris

 

That's the real hang up right there. If you get the gas tank fully out of the way, the job is a lot easier.

Glad you got it done in the end though!

 

I know right? From what I read to pull the tank you need to remove some of the suspension components.

 

I wonder if it would be easier running Teflon hose through these, as it's a lot less likely to hang up on anything. Or perhaps at least a hose that has a Teflon outer jacket, if such a thing exists.

 

Not sure it exists but silicone hose does. i just don't like the way it feels. It never feels as tightly sealed as rubber when clamped down on a fitting.

 

Is this the dreaded heater hose i've heard mentioned on here for the last five years?

 

THE one

 

Ahh..the holy grail.

Nice to shine some light on the mystery. Good work.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

My wife and I changed ours in a couple of hours. The trick is to open the access panel at the bottom of the B pillar. This inspection port is right at the bend to the rear of the rocker panel. This makes the job so easy. Lost

 

Or the engine

On the three cars I've done it on, the engine was out. While not really worth pulling the engine over dropping the suspension, if you've got the engine out already, it's a good time to replace those hoses!

 

Good effort!

However, I cut the old hose from the rear area and attached the new hose there. After that, I cut the old hose from the front and "messengered" the old/new hose from the front, while switching periodically to the back to give slack. After I cut old hose and connected the new, transfering the new hose into position took about 3 minutes.

Doing this by pulling rearward created a cinch in the hose path.

Of course, I had the car on jacks, the wheels removed and the wheel well panels removed.

 

I do this when the engine is out, whenever the engine is out you need to think about this job.

 

I bet pulling from the front would be easier. It seems like it wouldn't snag as much through the bends.

 

I have not personally done this but I saw it being done last year at a shop where I was having my ac serviced (before I figured out I could do ac work better myself but that's a different story). The mechanic started on the hose replacement about the same time they started on my ac evacuation/recharge. The new coolant hose was installed before my ac work was done so it didn't strike me as a very difficult a job. However, I wasn't really watching so I can't comment on the procedure but there was only one guy working. The car was on a lift and the wheel well covers were removed. Nothing else seemed to be moved/removed. I vaguely recall him pulling the new hose into position but again, I wasn't really paying much attention.

The fact that it was done in about an hour made me mentally categorize it as "no big deal." But obviously it can be...

 

For the record, my car ('84 GTB) did not have that last bit of sheet metal behind the fuel tank that creates those hard 90 degree bends. The sill passage opening on my car points straight back, and there is a single bendy clip about 6" above the opening on the firewall to secure the hose and route it over the fuel tank.

I suspect this is why the job was so easy for me and difficult for others. I would be it is a GTB vs. GTS thing and that they are all that way.

 

I noted on the three different cars I did that none of them had the hoses routed the same way behind the fuel tank. I suspect the way they're routed is a large part of the difference between the cars that are easy and the ones that are not.

 

I agree that silicone hoses would not be ideal. They would have a tendency to grab on things more than rubber hoses do. I've also heard they have a tendency to 'sweat' coolant, which doesn't sound too sanitary. Maybe Teflon sleeving on the rubber hose?

 

I was reading this agian (it's now in the tech sticky) and if I had to do it agian I would still use the rope, trimmer line and wire pulling lube but feed it from the back and pull from the front.

 

My hoses were so bound up and kinked as they went behind the gas tank and into the frame, I had to cut them out rather than fish them through. I pull the gas tank all the way forward (removing the fuel pump and filter), then put a snake through the frame and repulled them (with a sht load of grease on the hose).

 

On my gt4 I took the left hand fuel tank out (which makes a great deal of difference because it allows you to eliminate three bends and I replaced the water hose with 3/4" (19mm) bilge rated flame resistant diesel fuel injection fuel hose. My intention is to never replace this line again.

 

Funny that this post just resurfaced, I have been researching posts to see if I want to replace all coolant and fuel hoses on my 308 myself, or have a shop do the work since my time is very limited....