I just finished up some service, water pump, idlers, belt etc.. and working on re-filling the coolant on my 09 CTTS. I couldn't get it to hold vacuum and now have a pressure tester and narrowed down the leak to the upper connection on the radiator. When I removed this one I noticed it's a little different design then the lower one, or at least it seems. The lower one had an o-ring inside the connector with the metal retaining clip and the upper one didn't. It seems to have a free floating beveled plastic ring inside and no o-ring. Is there some trick to install that connection, or maybe I broke something removing it? I slides on far enough to get the metal clip back in, but doesn't seem to lock in place. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Tim

 

Just in case someone stumbles across this thread, there definitely was an o-ring installed in this originally. Found a correct size o-ring at the hardware store and installed it. System held pressure and vacuum no problem. Ordered a new upper hose assembly to be safe for the long haul. Just FYI

 

Yeah, I've never seen those plastic hose ends without an O-ring... same thing happened on a BMW I had... would lose coolant at odd times, like when parked, since the heat apparently sealed the pipe well enough while the engine was hot.

 

This is the first time I've really had to remove one of these type of connectors so I wasn't sure, and the ultimate mystery is where in the world did that o-ring go? It was quite a bear to get that connection off so it must have gone flying somewhere!

Tim

 

I don't see the spring clip in the slots, but am guessing you put it back on after fully seating the hose?

 

Yup, it's all clipped in and working fine now, just found it easier to install/remove with the clip completely removed.

Thanks
Tim