DZGunner

My heater valve, and just that little region in general has been giving me problems since i've owned my car. First the paper gasket blew out (the one between the head and the little elbow) I've had the small hose connecting the heater valve itself and the elbow blow out. Now again... the hose from the heater valve to that same elbow piece is leaking. The car has been sitting all winter, i've had it on jackstands the whole time, havent turned it on or anything, but coolant just keeps dripping out of this area. It's made a nice little pool below my car now, and it's getting annoying that this same area i already TRIED taking care of just fails every few months. does anyone else have problems with this area? is there some magical fix im not seeing or something. I have the 928 MS aftermarket heater valve installed, however it was only done recently, after i had the hose bursting and gasket blowing up issue.

It seems now like its the hose isnt tight enough? but i literally can't tighten it without breaking something

syoo8

DZ,

I just dealt with this area a month ago. I had the same coolant dripping issue as you.

DZGunner

yup, that was a problem at one point, actually it kept happening until i put a stop to it with rtv instead of the paper gasket. idk if thats the best thing to use but it hasn't leaked sinse... now its just the little 2.5" hose going to the heater valve that keeps giving me issues.

Avar928

Replace that short hose. That's a replaceable item. Same with the heater valve if it's original. Clamping it tighter won't do any good since the hose is probably gone and probably the valve (if it's old).

syoo8

Did you change the short hose to the heater valve? Everyone says that it is a common failure point. Did you perhaps over-tighten the hose clamp? Many hose clamps have many thin rectangular slots which can cut the hose (ask me how I know this.)

Can you take a picture of the problem? Maybe one of the Rennlist wise men (i.e. not me) can diagnose.

DZGunner

I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow, but when i put my finger below the clamp on the hose over the end of the heater valve, i get lots of coolant on my hand, i do the same for the clamp over the elbow and i dont get any, so i know exactly where it is, i just don't know why it keeps failing. I've tried tightening but its as tight as it will go without breaking.

It's creating a huge mess on the back of the engine though

syoo8

Is the short hose old, or did you just change it? What year is the car?

If it is the wrong hose, you will have problems. Read this post. Either the hose is shot, or perhaps it is not of the correct dimensions for your aftermarket heater valve.

Avar928

While not a common failure, that long hose the heater valve connects to can also fail. Mine did at least. Again, it's not common though. The short hose is more than likely bad. Change it. It's cheap. Call Roger.

DZGunner

I did replace that hose not long ago

now that you mention it though, it was just similar ID hose i grabbed somewhere, it may not be small enough for the aftermarket heater valve

Avar928

That might be it. It seems strange to have just replaced it, tightened it fully and still have it leak in the same exact spot. Get the right one and hopefully it should go away.

depami

What is this aftermarket valve to which you refer?

The short hose on my 86.5 blew while driving hard. There was a small puff of white smoke and then the smell of antifreeze.

I had a new stock valve on hand but had a tough time finding the right size hose locally. I vaguely recall that the head nipple and valve nipple were different sizes. It was a bear getting that hose on, one end more than the other.

I would bet you don't have a good seal between the hose and this aftermarket valve.

Bilal928S4

The short hose has different dimensions on its ends, so you cannot replace it with a generic "single size" hose. The OE hose is molded with different sized ends.

depami

That's what I thought, but I did find a generic "single size" hose that worked. It was a tight fit on one end and a very tight fit on the other.

Is the short hose the same for all years?

SeanR

There was also a bad batch of heater valves that came out last year. They leaked at the mating point between the black and green halves.

depami

Is there a way to identify the bad valves?

Mine is black and white. Should it be black and green?