OK, my car overheated Friday and sprung a leak at one of the bolts on the coolant crossover tube (thanks to the board members here who educated me on this tube). Sure enough the seals were torn up pretty bad. I picked up the correct seals and installed them back there and when I pressurize the system with my pressure tester it still leaks air!

I did notice my bolt has pitting due to corrosion but could this be the problem? Do you think the pipe surface warped or went bad? It seems like it's leaking at the outer seal from one spot.

The dealer does carry the pipe and bolt set...should I get that or do you guys think there might be something I'm doing wrong? Will it leak till I get coolant in there? How tight should this bolt be?? Manual says 31 ft-lbs...not like I can get a torque wrench back there...

Man, what a PITA bolt to get to! I took off work to fix this today so I hope I can figure this out and get the TA back on the road...

Thanks...

 

The bolts do corrode over time so maybe yours are bad. If the cost of the new tube and bolts is reasonable I would just get the whole kit from the dealer and be done with it. You don't want to take a chance on it leaking again after doing all this work.

 

The whole kit is pretty reasonably priced. That would be my next step. Also make sure the back of the heads are clean, and use thread sealent on the ends of the bolts.

 

Well I pulled off the pipe and there was a hole in it! It was right back by the seals...must have eroded away. I can stick a small nail in the hole!

So I'm off to get the pipe. Anybody have any tips on getting it in w/o bending it? It was a pain to get out...

Thanks for your help....off to the dealership before rush hour...

 

Got the crossover tube installed...went in easy. Car seems to be running cool with no leaks. Only casualty was the oil pressure sending unit...must have banged it around.

Next is to flush and change all the hoses...but at least I can drive it to work again.