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I decided to take about an hour drive through the Malibu Canyons and stop at my bank, on my way to the gas station. I got on the throttle hard in 2nd taking the car to 7K rpms while merging on the freeway after stopping at my bank. Everything seemed okay until I reach my freeway exit and noticed some steam coming from the rear decklid. Luckily I was only a block away from the gas station and as I pulled in, the low coolant light came on. During my entire drive the coolant indicator stayed between the 8 and 0.
Anyway, as the steam cleared I saw this; .
When things cooled down I threw some water in the system to see if I can get the car back on the road. This is what happened then ();
The plastic coolant hose nipple broke-off in the hose but, luckily I was able to squeeze, smash, and break-up the remaining piece of the nipple into small pieces while in the hose and retrieve the bits of plastic with needle-nose pliers. With the hose clear I was able to attach the hose to the remaining nipple stub. This was the fix that got me home;
Anyway, has this happened to anyone else? Does anybody know what this coolant hose/nipple is, where to find a replacement, and how to install it?
Oh yeah that's the infamous P/N: 99610622652 plastic union or the Parts listing calls it a "Joining socket" you can get the pieces anywhere online for maybe $5-6 bucks. It's easy to install you will need two small clams or a set of crip clamps. Then remove the 10mm bolt holding it to the motor chassi. If you want a permanent fix you can buy the $41.75 upgrade part from AutoAtlanta or you can do like I did get a metal hose kit from local auto parts store $4 and it included 2 small radiator clamps that fit the small hoses and then drilled the plastic bracket to allow the repair Union (metal) to fit. So got a metal permanent fix for that stubborn plastic piece that has a tendency to break on its own or when doing maintenance in the area.
I had the same thing happen when I was working on my car, the little plastic nipple broke. I went to menards and bought a metal fitting. It had the same internal diameter as the stock plastic piece, zip tied to the oem bracket and its held up over a year now with no issues .
It sort of looked like this but without the nut, $3 fix.
^^^^
I did a similar fix while I waited for the 'solution' to arrive...just so I could get the car washed and clean off all the lovely coolant that sprayed EVERYWHERE. The new upgraded part is now installed and life is good!
Thanks guys for all the help! NOW, are there any other plastic bits that I should change to avoid a similar situation???