2001 G.C. rear heater lines replacement

[HF INTEGRALE]

I'm just about to replace the rear heater lines on my 2001 Grand Caravan, to be specific,the part starting behind the front wheel on passenger side going up to the engine compartment.

It is pretty sad to be changing them only after four years,the van has been undercoated every fall!!! When I was getting the quote for the part ($227 CAD) the guy told me that they have been selling hundreds of them lately.

Anyway I was just wondering if I could use rubber lines instead of metal ones and any tips or advices on the easiest way how to replace them. Detaching the lines under the car will be easy, what I am concerned about is the engine compartment.

Any advice will be much appriciated.

[23161]

i have the same van and problem it looks hard to get at the lines did you get a reply? i need help

[Dthane]

Mine look bad also (ingenious design where the water from the ac drips onto the lines) and they gave us the $368 or some figure like that to replace them. Not to change the subject, but has anyone ever had any luck with some type of corrosion resistant, high heat tolerant primer or paint to try to protect and preserve these lines? I'm guessing there are a whole lot of people that would rather try that than the alternative. Also, the rubber may work as on my other van, a Pontiac, there are rubber heater hoses right off of the engine.

Does anyone know the temp of the heater/radiator fluid in that area? My Sunfire runs at 195 and the paints I have seen say up to 200 degrees. Also, has anyone ever taken an extension hose and made the water "fall" off of the A/C "miss" these lines?

[Vats]

I would think you could cut the metal pipes leaving good uncorroded metal and place rubber hose in between. Bear in mind colant flows through rubber hose in the engine compartment and to the front heater core through the same medium.

It would save you a lot of time and headache.

[wentzele]

I am having the same trouble on my 98 GC. The rear heater lines rusted through. To keep the car running for now I bypassed the rear heater at the lines going to the front heater on the driver side just behind the trottle body.

The problem I have not figured out is where do all the water lines run behind the engine. It appears there are 4 lines which show up behind the engine. Two must come from the rear heater pipes but when I remove the hoses from what I thought was the rear heater lines I still get water pumping through one or the other. I finally came directly from the line that comes across the front of the engine from the water pump right into the upper hose on the drivers heater core and ran the lower heater core line back to the return pipe into the right side of the engine just above the transmission. Emergency repair to keep wife on rode until I figure out plumbing.

Anyone have diagram showing the routing of the heater lines behind the engine. I am suspecting there might be 3 heater cores. One for driver, one for passenger control and the rear one but can't find any info on this. Any help would be great.

Thanks

[webbee]

I thought that the replacement lines from DC were stainless steel. Is this the case or am I hallucinating that I read that?

I think you could use rubber lines too. However DC didn't, and since there is a cost issue between steel and rubber, I am wondering if we are missing something about rubber line usage?

[Dthane]

Update on mine. Last spring (06) I had tried a rust converter on them, then repainted them. That didn't last long and soon some of that was "bubbling" up.

I went into Advanced Autoparts and explained the situation to a kid. Literally, he couldn't have been 20, but seemed a little familiar with things. He had me try some for lack of a better term "heat resistant engine pipe paint". So I naval jellied these, prepped them for painting, primed them and hit them with this paint. It is rated for like 1200 degrees if you cure it. I could not cure it at 300 degrees for 4 hours or whatever it said (I did hit it with a hair dryer for a little bit in the hopes that it would help some). So far, so good but way too early to tell whether this will be a long term solution to the problem or I will be looking for rubber hoses (it's only been a month). I don't like the $368 option I can tell you that.

The paint has ceramic or something in it, is very "cool" and probably harmful to the body, but for the little bit I was using (and I sprayed some and put some in a cup and used a brush for that-hint-don't use a plastic cup as it will eat through it), I ventilated with a fan and cleaned up as soon as I was done.

[HF INTEGRALE]

I totally forgot to post the result of my work!!!
Anyway, I used the rubber and it has been just fine ever since.I also put some heat resistant plastic around it since it runs pretty close to exhaust pipe.I have propably paid $12 for parts and spent about 3 hours working on it so I definitaly think it was worth it.

One more thing, I would recomend using the rubber instead of the metal lines just because of lack of working space-it is more flexible.

[RIP]

Wow, you had to shake the cobwebs off this one. Thanks for the fix. Glad to hear it's worked out great. Cheers.

[Dthane]

Read the thread and went back out to check on mine. Still in good shape, hopefully that continues.

[Sfrid073]

Anyone have the factory part number on these lines? i have to do mine.