I am having a small antifreeze leak at the heater core to hoses connection on a 1996 Park Avenue.I removed the hoses and used red rtv to seal the connections.I noticed when I removed the hoses the upper heater hose goes to the bottom connector on the tensioner assembley and the lower goes to the upper connector on the tensioner assembley-Completly opposite than what the factory service manual shows.Will this cause a problem or be the reason for my leak?The part numbers on the hoses are the originial gm part numbers.By the way I removed the original clamps and replaced them with the screw type clamp and for some reason seem to loosen up some over time.

I am having a small antifreeze leak at the heater core to hoses connection on a 1996 Park Avenue.I removed the hoses and used red rtv to seal the connections.I noticed when I removed the hoses the upper heater hose goes to the bottom connector on the tensioner assembley and the lower goes to the upper connector on the tensioner assembley-Completly opposite than what the factory service manual shows.Will this cause a problem or be the reason for my leak?The part numbers on the hoses are the originial gm part numbers.By the way I removed the original clamps and replaced them with the screw type clamp and for some reason seem to loosen up some over time.

The 99PA has the firewall connections side by side, with the driver side going into the top port of the tensioner and the passenger side going to the lower port. If they are backwards, it may be causing too much pressure and forcing a way out by that connection. I would get new hoses and a factory clamp to replace the existing ones if they are original. Hope this helps you.

I will not use the factory clamps.They are too hard to get to too remove even with the proper tool I had to buy to get them off.

I will not use the factory clamps.They are too hard to get to too remove even with the proper tool I had to buy to get them off.

Usually a pair of channel lock pliers does the trick. But regular hose clamps should work the same too. What you can do if there is enough room is double clamp them.

You can not get channel lock pliers in there.It is a very tight fit.I found an antifreeze leak coming from the bottom of the tensioner assymbley past a rubber o-ring