I just discovered a pin-hole in my heater hose, spraying on my headers. The hose is a seal/crimp that is $160 as a whole unit (from radiator to heater core). Only the rubber hose, near the firewall, is actually leaking. Does the whole enchilada need to be replaced? Sure looks like a total PITA. I don't doubt it needs replacing (10 years/172,000 miles).

Suggestions?

You can buy the individual rubber hoses and remove the swaged collars to put them on. Just use a regular hose clamp to put the new hose on.

I bought the whole assembly, and it was STILL a pain to get in there. I wish I would have saved my money and just replaced the hoses myself. Perhaps with the headers it would be easier, but with manifolds it was a pain in the neck. There are either one or two bolts that attach the middle "hold down plate" to the fenderwell, and they were hard to get a wrench onto.

Also, I must have crossed the hoses onto the wrong ports on the water pumpbecause my heater doesn't work. Good thing I live in flori-duh.

When you changed the assembly, how did you get it out/in there? I sure as hell can't figure it out and threw in the towel on it last night. I could cut the old one in pieces and get it out, but that wouldn't work too well for the new assembly.

I just did mine two weeks ago (the day before I had to leave for a weekend of racing).

It was a PIA as you have already found out. I wrestled them in and and out the top. There's really no other way to do it that I could see. You just have to find what works. Took me almost three hours.

I do all my own work on the car (clutches, diffs, alignments, etc, etc). I can honestly say that out of all of it, replacing the heater hoses REALLY sucked so don't get discouraged.

The only way I saw it could come out was if I took the main accessory bracket off, which snowballed into removing the power steering pump & lines, tensioner pulley, and a/c compressor mount bolts. Even after studying it then I was not positive that I could have gotten those hoses out so that's why I threw in the towel on it.

This is honestly the first time I've really been skunked on this car...

Even the shop manual recommends replacing only the rubber parts of the hose assembly. There was no mention of removing the pipes for a LT1 car.

If you remove the starter, can you remove/install the assembly from underneath?

Warren

Now you got me thinking if that's possible and why I didn't think of it when I had the starter and everything out of the car the other night...

I had two different hoses go out on me. I just cut each sections with the hole and clamped on a new one.

I had cut one of the hoses when I replaced the AC hoses and used one of those coolant flush valve things to bridge the gap and put clamps on it. It worked great until I pulled the motor and replaced the whole assembly.