So of course, when my handy-dandy mechanic husband was out of town on a mechanic's training class for the state, my car overheated. This was at 9pm and I had my daughter with me. I pull over and pop the hood and there's literally NO coolant at all. This was the first time I'd driven the car in about 6-8 weeks, since my husband had taken to driving it to his work instead and leaving me the truck (gas mileage). Anyhoo...there's visible coolant dripping under my car. I fill the coolant tank up, make it home - only about 8 miles away, and by the next morning, I had about 1" of coolant left. I filled it with water and went on to work. (Had not other choice - don't lecture). I had a few people look at it, who could see no leaks. So - my happy a$$ crawled under the car and saw about where it was leaking. When my husband got back in town, I showed him where it seemed to be coming from. Well, this car has rear heat. So the heater hose assembly has a very cheap, PLASTIC 'Y' that all of the heater hoses connect to. The Y had broken off up inside one of the hoses, causing the coolant leak. The sucky part is - a new heater hose assembly is between $85-120.00 and NOBODY had them in stock.
Our solution? My handy-dandy mechanic husband (a.k.a. 'Macguyver) found a 'T' at Auto Zone and managed to make his own heater hose assembly using the T and new hose pieces, and hose clamps. It's working like a charm.
So let's add my complaints up -
Cracked coolant tank, Coolant leak due to heater hose assembly, replacing rotors and pads ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME!!!, and the friggin 19" low profile tires are pretty dang expensive and don't last long due to the pad/rotor deal. Rant over. Thanks for listening.
So of course, when my handy-dandy mechanic husband was out of town on a mechanic's training class for the state, my car overheated. This was at 9pm and I had my daughter with me. I pull over and pop the hood and there's literally NO coolant at all. This was the first time I'd driven the car in about 6-8 weeks, since my husband had taken to driving it to his work instead and leaving me the truck (gas mileage). Anyhoo...there's visible coolant dripping under my car. I fill the coolant tank up, make it home - only about 8 miles away, and by the next morning, I had about 1" of coolant left. I filled it with water and went on to work. (Had not other choice - don't lecture). I had a few people look at it, who could see no leaks. So - my happy a$$ crawled under the car and saw about where it was leaking. When my husband got back in town, I showed him where it seemed to be coming from. Well, this car has rear heat. So the heater hose assembly has a very cheap, PLASTIC 'Y' that all of the heater hoses connect to. The Y had broken off up inside one of the hoses, causing the coolant leak. The sucky part is - a new heater hose assembly is between $85-120.00 and NOBODY had them in stock.
Our solution? My handy-dandy mechanic husband (a.k.a. 'Macguyver) found a 'T' at Auto Zone and managed to make his own heater hose assembly using the T and new hose pieces, and hose clamps. It's working like a charm.
So let's add my complaints up -
Cracked coolant tank, Coolant leak due to heater hose assembly, replacing rotors and pads ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME!!!, and the friggin 19" low profile tires are pretty dang expensive and don't last long due to the pad/rotor deal. Rant over. Thanks for listening.
- Kimberly H., Carlisle, OH, US