radiator heater hose quick disconnect lines

Hey all..

I'm having a problem tracking down a hose and short of going to the $$dealer$$ (who I also dislike, for other reasons) I thought I'd try on here to see if anyone has had this problem, and if there's any other options out there. I've tried Autozone and NAPA both..

There's two lines on the coolant system that run into (well and out of) the heater. The one closest to the engine has a 'ton' of quick disconnects, a quick disconnect 't' and various sized 'chunks' of hose (see the photos, but if you own one, you know). No one carries this 'assembly' nor any part of it for some reason?? When I first saw it, I though it was some hack job by a shop or something - It's a 2007 Expedition EL EB and we bought it used in 2009 (assume it was a former lease, decent miles, excellent condition).

I'm going to contact the dealer to get a price, but hoping you guys might have a online source or some other suggestion?

I considered junk yard'ing, but to be honest, I've never seen or dealt with these quick disconnect deals, and have no idea how they work (detail on that would be appreciated, lol).

I'm also wondering WHY that main hose closest to the engine is that way. The Autozone rep says the main line there with like.. a bunch of quick disconnects and tiny chunks of hose is in fact the way it ships from Ford. Would that be something I could rip out of there and come up with my own regular straight hose to a regular 't' kind of thing? (IE get rid of all those quick disconnects?)

I searched around the net, and here of course, and unless I just failed at the search terms it doesn't seem like this is a common, or documented issue, truthfully, after owning a couple GM cars plagued with common issues, I was somewhat shocked to find no one else having 'this' problem with my Expedition.. (or other models with the same engine/layout?)

Can anyone shed some light on this, why there are so many chunks of hose, why no one carries it, and if anywhere other than the dealer might? (and how to work the quick disconnects, like, is there a tool for it, just more force than I was applying, etc??)

Thanks in advance,

eR

Photos:
http://lanfest.dyndns.org/expy/1.jpghttp://lanfest.dyndns.org/expy/2.jpghttp://lanfest.dyndns.org/expy/3.jpghttp://lanfest.dyndns.org/expy/4.jpghttp://lanfest.dyndns.org/expy/5.jpghttp://lanfest.dyndns.org/expy/6.jpg

They're plastic,right? If they're the connectors I'm thinking of theres nothing DISconnect about them. They won't pull apart until you destroy the collar or the barbed fitting inside. If you cut one open you'll find they're just barbed fittings with a collar that allows Ford to push a hose into them, (quick connect). I replaced mine on a Mountaineer with barbed fittings from Home Depot and some shielded, worm type screw clamps. All Data even shows a crude picture of them. Not much detail and some root part numbers for 'em. Still the counter guy at the Ford dealer was lookin' at the screen and lookin' at me back and forth like I was from Mars. I figured I'd just take it upon myself to repair it better than the OEM crap, hunted down the fittings I needed and fixed it forever. HTH

I got mine from rockauto.com. Reasonable price.