99 T5 - Bypass heater core firewall junction - rubbing?

Post by **j-dawg** » 23 Nov 2014, 19:20

I spent today swearing under the engine bay and managed to get 5/8" ID heater hose installed straight from the heater core to the engine block, instead of using the (broken) firewall connection box. But I noticed that one of the hoses is pressing pretty firmly against the block, which I fear will result in a ruptured hose once I have long since forgotten about this repair.

Since I'm loath to drain and refill the coolant for the 9999999th time this year, I'm just letting the car sit until I figure out what to do. I wouldn't mind using the factory bent hoses up to the firewall and clamp them to the hoses to the heater core, but it's something like $120 for a new OEM set, which is absolutely nuts. I have the old ones, but they're a little floppy and bulgey, so it seems best not to put them back on.

Has anyone removed the firewall coupling and had issues with rubbing or wear? Did you just go 5/8" hose the whole way?

(As always, I notice that this job would have been easy as pie were it not for the turbo system. This has been true of just about every underhood job I've done with this car.)

Post by **precopster** » 24 Nov 2014, 01:18

Or just buy UROs and replace them every 4 years or 50,000 miles whichever first. Of course you'll need to retighten them every 5,000 miles...........By that time you may not even own the vehicle.

Whenever I modified my cars and used hoses in positions they weren't intended it would always come back to haunt me.

Post by **j-dawg** » 24 Nov 2014, 16:21

That seems like sound advice. My inclination is to buy the OEM hoses. As you say, with cars this old it's hard to specify an expiration date, but I've heard of the URO hoses failing within a few thousand miles.

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 25 Nov 2014, 01:43

URO?
Really?
C'mon.....

+1 for OEM - Cheap Insurance!
Shop around. TASCA, perhaps?

Post by **Matty Moo** » 25 Nov 2014, 06:38

I took the coupling and broke out the actual couplers in it, then ran the hose through that. Two years and no damage to the hose or leaking.

Post by **j-dawg** » 25 Nov 2014, 08:05

I have the hoses just running through the coupler, because I broke that while bypassing the heater core by the side of the road. Did you have something protecting the hose at the coupler?

To be clear, I'm worried about rubbing both there (because of the turbo, the hoses have to make a 90 degree turn right after the firewall) and at the other end (to avoid the intake pipe, one of the hoses comes out of that hard line behind the engine and presses against the transmission).

Post by **cn90** » 25 Nov 2014, 08:05

According to the thread below, they had no problem with the hoses rubbing the blobk:
http://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-850- ... nes-46740/

- Wonder if you can install some long zip ties and gently tug the heater hoses away from the engine block?

- Or use the factory elbow: cut the crimp using dremel tool, then install new 5/8" hoses. I took a photo (courtesy of JDLC) and label the hoses so you know what my thoughts are:

: HeaterHose.JPG (47.95 KiB) Viewed 1551 times

speedyt5 · Post by **speedyt5** » 25 Nov 2014, 09:56

I'm just curious as to why you want to bypass the heater core?

Post by **cn90** » 25 Nov 2014, 10:00

The O.P. bypassed the heater core coupler, not the heater core itself.

Post by **j-dawg** » 07 Dec 2014, 07:07

Update: I resolved this. For some reason I posted it in another thread.
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 84#p350084

Using the elbows resolved the rubbing concerns at both ends. The hose at the transmission no longer rubs.

I purchased barbed hose elbows; the factory elbows are probably fine to reuse.