Heater Hoses- Only buy OEM

Post by **firstv70volvo** » 16 Oct 2020, 18:15

After 20 years and 207,000 miles one the heater hoses started leaking so I replaced both of them. My one mistake is I purchased aftermarket hoses that were supposed to be good quality but were of very poor quality. There was some type of hardened glue inside the plastic elbows that pushes onto the heater core pipe, which prevented the fitting from sliding on the pipe all the way and fully seating correctly. The glue also prevented a flexible locking ring from opening and the locking on the pipe lip. I was badly in need of my car so I scrapped out the glue and freed up the lock ring enough to get the hose fitting fully seated and locked in place. The screws clamps that attached the hoses to the plastic elbows were also of terrible quality and one was loose.
Replacing these hoses is not a quick and easy job and poor quality replacement parts made it an even longer job. The OEM hoses are ~$75 a piece or about double the cost of aftermarket but if I were to do this job again I would pay the extra dollars for decent parts. The aftermarkets part are so bad there's a good chance I may get the opportunity to replace them again before the car is gone.

Post by **cn90** » 16 Oct 2020, 20:07

I have not done this job yet bc my 2004 V70 only has 120K or so.

However, I have used generic Gates heater hoses on my 1998 S70 GLT in the past w/o any issues.
Saved a bunch of money!

Question for the P2 gurus: has anyone used generic heater hoses in the P2 S60, V70, XC90 cars?
Such as connecting the generic heater hose to the metal outlet, then add a few clamps at the RED arrow area...

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Post by **abscate** » 17 Oct 2020, 05:24

firstv70volvo wrote: ↑16 Oct 2020, 18:15 After 20 years and 207,000 miles one the heater hoses started leaking so I replaced both of them. My one mistake is I purchased aftermarket hoses that were supposed to be good quality but were of very poor quality. There was some type of hardened glue inside the plastic elbows that pushes onto the heater core pipe, which prevented the fitting from sliding on the pipe all the way and fully seating correctly. The glue also prevented a flexible locking ring from opening and the locking on the pipe lip. I was badly in need of my car so I scrapped out the glue and freed up the lock ring enough to get the hose fitting fully seated and locked in place. The screws clamps that attached the hoses to the plastic elbows were also of terrible quality and one was loose.
Replacing these hoses is not a quick and easy job and poor quality replacement parts made it an even longer job. The OEM hoses are ~$75 a piece or about double the cost of aftermarket but if I were to do this job again I would pay the extra dollars for decent parts. The aftermarkets part are so bad there's a good chance I may get the opportunity to replace them again before the car is gone.

Can you please share the ones you tried, manufacturer and part number? I’m sURO I could probably guess, but please confirm.

Let the guilt wear their fame on their flags for all to see.

P2 OEM hoses are only about $35 vs the $75-80 each for P80s. No way I would use aftermarket at that price point.

Post by **darrylrobert** » 17 Oct 2020, 06:05

Those quick link connections are a royal pain to remove and i think completely unnecessary. I cant think why they didnt just use a rubber hose jubilee clamped at both ends .They could have given the aluminum pipe the 90degree bend. Ive seen people cut the hose up near the 90degree end and with a small length of aluminm pipe replace with a good quality heater hose.

Post by **firstv70volvo** » 17 Oct 2020, 08:47

abscate wrote: ↑17 Oct 2020, 05:24

Can you please share the ones you tried, manufacturer and part number? I’m sURO I could probably guess, but please confirm.

Let the guilt wear their fame on their flags for all to see.

P2 OEM hoses are only about $35 vs the $75-80 each for P80s. No way I would use aftermarket at that price point.

Not sure of the manufacturer, the hoses had a Goldflex label, I purchased these hoses from IPD and they just listed the brand as aftermarket. I'm sure they would have replaced the bad hose that had dried glue inside and outside the elbow fitting but I needed my car and didn't give them a chance to make things right, just made the poor quality hose work. It just seems like there's typically only two choices on replacement parts these days, expensive OEM parts of decent quality (most of the time) and knock-off aftermarket parts of very unpredictable quality.

Post by **cn90** » 18 Oct 2020, 11:38

This is my DIY for 1998 S70 heater hoses:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=69238

The P2 heater hose elbow is plastic.
But you can easily find a copper plumbing elbow to go 90 degrees.

You can see that the factory elbow in the P80 1998 S70 is brass-copper:

jzd · Post by **jzd** » 07 May 2023, 12:58

A few years ago I converted my 98 s70 GLT from the Volvo aluminum heater core coolant pipe (interior), to the Gate rubber hose set up.
Recently I noticed leakage inside on the driver's carpet, drained the coolant, and was going to remove the hoses to re-tighten everything. When I pulled the hoses out I saw that the lower hose was touching (and melting) the floorboard.
At the time I converted it, I also picked up silicone inlet and outlet heater hoses from IPD, took the copper elbows off the original heater hoses and inserted them into the silicone hoses.
To get everything to fit right, I had to cut off a portion of the copper elbow for the upper heater hose.
NOW, I want to convert everything back to the original design, but I need to get my hands on the copper elbow for the upper hose to use with my silicone heater hoses.
I went to the salvage yard to grab one, but the only cars there were NA and so (apparently) the heater hoses into the junction are straight copper and not L-shaped.
Does anyone have a spare, old, upper heater hose that I could get the elbow from?
Thanks.