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Front Ball Joints: While I'm in There???

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Darkbloodmon

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TL/DR : Take caution and have extreme scrutiny when sourcing parts and pieces. Don't buy ice cream from a van with a jingle.


Just in time for Summer! Sprung a large leak on my custom bypass coolant filter/ heater hose re-route modeled off of @AH64ID and @seafish 's designs. Hose is physically breaking apart from the inside right before the clamp.

Initially I thought it was the hose fitting being a cheap aluminium Chinese part, it may have cracked in its casting from the constant vibration of the engine (like my dash). But no, when reaching down and wiggling the hose, the clamp is holding tight and the hose is nearly torn through. I don't think the barb on the fitting is too sharp.
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This is hose specked for cooling, as well as oils, fuel and lubricants
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100C is 212F according to google, maybe the heat rating wasn't high enough. Truck never gets hot, never overheated. Can it hit 212 in normal operating conditions without a load, sure, but not for long. This happened over 3 years, but it's maybe closer to 2.5 since i've been OTR for the past 6mo and the truck has been sitting.
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My install was perfect I grabbed OEM constant tension heater hose clamps off Dakotas in parts yards and used them in the most accessible joints for easy access if anything happened. Then I used a semi permanent wire tie clamp on joints that weren't as accessible that I really didn't want to have issues with.

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Even used conduit to protect the hose when it came into contact with other parts or an area with flex or movement.

Now I've got to remove all this hose I used on that custom system and replumb it with something else I have to take a chance on because mfg is so up their ass about penny pinching. Every other fitting and joint is dry as a bone.
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Forget going to a parts store, I was trying to get a rubber brake line the other day for an '06 CRV and Orileys had it for 33, Napa wanted 45, and Rockauto wanted 10 bucks.

While im on a tangent about the cost of things, I got robbed by a ******* ice cream van. 8 dollars for two dreamsicle sized ice creams. I went out shopping and saw the exact same brand, and the exact same flavors. For the whopping price of........ $4.99 for a 6 pack! not including my Food lions MVP discount. Where does this guy get off with his overhead?! I was the only adult at that truck surrounded by kids with apparently full wallets and I had to run back to my truck and grab quarters because the 7 singles I had didn't cover it! I haven't had ice cream from a truck in over a decade, maybe close to two. I probably won't ever again because they're taking a bigger cut than Mafia when they ran the casinos!

If he sells to 50 brats for 4 a pop that's 200 bucks, His sprinter van doesn't burn 200 in fuel a day, Guarantee it. It's not even peak season for him yet, not to mention he can still pull up to neighborhood pools, sports events, construction sites, Schools, etc. He probably buys the ice cream in off season and in bulk at wholesale prices. I could go on and on about this guy because it just hit a nerve given not just the cost of everything nowadays but the quality.

You don't even need an ice cream van.... you could rent a Uhaul, throw a commercial freezer in the back with a portable generator and get a loudspeaker.

I'm going to try a name brand rubber mfg. like Continental or a silicone high temp hose this time..... Didn't know heat and coolant rated hose for automotive applications was so hard to make that you have to buy from a vetted mfg...

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I was an ice cream man for about 2 weeks. Made 25% of the daily gross take.

Unfortunately this was mid 1990's and made about $6 a day, did not last but was a fun job, I think it was an old 1970s Chevy van.

Good luck on your fix.
 
We have trucks at work with blue silicone hose and it is such low quality you smell hot coolant odor right through the hose. The entire truck smells like a giant coolant leak. We looked the trucks over in great detail trying to find one then one guy stuck his nose up to the line and that was it!
 
100°C isn’t sufficient. The 190° thermostat isn’t fully open until 207°, and the fan doesn’t really get going until 215-217°. Max allowable temp is 225°.

You’re also getting a lot of heat from the exhaust manifold there, so you’re attacking the hose with heat from both sides.
 
That looks like air hose. Although @Signal73 won’t agree, I’d go with the blue silicone hose. We use hundreds, maybe thousands, of feet of it a year on the buses. The only time we have trouble with it is if it’s run too close to something like the turbo, exhaust, or air compressor. Ours is Flexfab brand, 1/4” through 1”.
 
100°C isn’t sufficient. The 190° thermostat isn’t fully open until 207°, and the fan doesn’t really get going until 215-217°. Max allowable temp is 225°.

You’re also getting a lot of heat from the exhaust manifold there, so you’re attacking the hose with heat from both sides.

I don't think the manifold heat is a large factor, the section that failed wasn't in contact with anything or near anything hot besides the engine block. I'm still running a mechanical clutch fan. I doubt the engagement is as precise to the OE temps as with the electronically controlled one. I honestly couldn't tell you when the Mech. Clutch engages but it does work.

I would've expected it to fail at or near the manifold if the heat radiating off it constantly were a factor.

I expect all the hoses to be in similar condition when I pull them off.

Either way it's getting replaced.
 
The powers that be have a sick sense of humor, less than a week after replacing the heater hoses on my 2500 my '91 Accord springs a leak on the heater hose from the engine side going into the heater valve for the core. Thankfully I was only 2 miles away from home at my Tractor trailer parking lot.

Looks to be the same size hose but I'm just short of 3-4" in length and its in a much tighter location behind the engine under the intake manifold. 33 year old hose on a vehicle with 125K, one of the first things I did when I bought it was replace the T stat, Rad, and Rad hoses since all the rubber suspension bushings were poached.

Keep an eye out, these trucks are getting old. o7
 
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