Rear heater leaking coolant hose

[apole]

Hi there,

Got home tonight to find a pool of coolant under my bongo. Turns out one of the rubber coolant hoses to the rear heater is leaking. Lucky for me I wasn't driving the bongo when it happened, could have been expensive.

Anyway, I'm thinking to make a temp repair by just cutting the hoses shorter to a good section, connecting them with a plumbling fitting and jubilee clips, then filling, bleeding, then if all well getting it over to the bongo garage to get it fixed properly.

Also thinking to get all the hoses I can replaced, prevention better than cure I think.

Does anyone know if a 15mm plumbing fitting would do the job for now?

Thanks

[Doone]

I've seen bongos towed in that have had this temporary fix, so a 15ml plumbing fitting will do it but will be a bit slack, you'll have to do the jubilees tight or it'll leak under pressure.

[apole]

Thanks for the tips. I'm not sure if it's the pipe of the heater as you say, I'll know more when it goes to the garage for repair, just want to get it in a state where it's safe to drive.

Wonder if this is why some converters remove the rear unit, I guess it's less to go wrong and TBH I've never used it to heat the car. I'm also wondering how you'd get at it as I have a full side conversion so I guess that would make is alot harder to get at.

[The Great Pretender]

If there is room clamp the hose each side before you cut it, saves draining and bleeding.

[Bob]

If you never use the rear heater is it possible/practical to just bypass it?

I've wondered this as the fan in ours has never worked, and in 14 months we've only had anyone in the back 3 times.

[apole]

Yes my plan is to bridge the two pipes until I know where the leak is, and then get the appropriate parts to fix properly. Bit concerned at this stage as stuck at work in the daytime, and when home it's dark. I was also wondering if it's possible to buy a length of radiator hose and take out the entire rear heater matrix hoses so I join to the source of the pipes. Haven't had chance to see where they connect, maybe one either side of the engine but that maybe better, albeit I'd loose the option to clamp the pipes and reduce coolant loss.

Just concerned that using a 15mm copper pipe onto existing possibly knackered coolant hoses is asking too much.

[apole]

Hi there,

Quick update. Managed to get some time this arvo and rattle round the shops to get some parts. Got some 15mm copper pipe and a bending tool, bent into a U shape. The leak was off the rear heater matrix pipe but I think it's the pipework on the matrix and not the rubber hose.

I decided to cut the pipes and bridge them with the copper pipe. In a word, not a good idea, the 15mm pipe is way too small so it would be a very chancy repair.

The better news is it was possible to bypass the matrix using one of the original pipes, cut shorter, I think this is a much better option as all the pipes are the correct size. It's a real strain to get the old hoses off mind, and for me the bleeding was all new to me but after an hour of following the members fact sheet, squeezing all pipes etc I'm happy it's all good.

All hoses get hot now, temp gauge at 11, no more air bubbles etc. Topped up with 50 50 mix.

All in I'm pleased I can use my car now, and fingers crossed it's all well bled.

Thanks again for all the help. If you do get this issue, it's worth considering not using copper pipe, it's just too small and I'm sure bending it like that will weaken it.

[cheffy34]

Nice one apole glad you got it sorted