I posted a while back about a 97 850 Wagon that has joined the family (my brother-in-law's replacement for a 94 940 which somehow ran out of oil...)

I was dealing with oil leaks and coolant leaks, as well as some cosmetic issues.

To date, I've gotten some things done that have the car on the right track and I thought I'd share what I've found.

The coolant leak was coming from *somewhere* behind the engine. Well it turns out it was the lower radiator hose. Oil attacked the hose, the rubber swelled to the point of looking like a cobra head (really!) and it developed a split right against the back of the head where it's clamped to the transverse water pipe. No problem, new hose, cut off the lower clamp at the radiator that was unspeakably rusty, and that hose is all set.

But I wasn't sure, or couldn't tell for sure, that the heater hose off that same pipe wasn't leaking too, so I ordered one of those. This is the shorter of the two heater hoses, going to the lower fitting on the firewall connection, and is part no. 3528275, about $23 from FCP. With an asterisk. That says "new hose clip kit required." Hmm.

For those who don't remember me from way back on here, I live close to FCP's retail store. So I go pick up the radiator hose, the heater hose isn't in yet, but I pick that up in the afternoon. No problem. So I think.

I can't get the new hose to fit in the firewall, no matter what I do. I successfully swapped all the old o-rings and clips to the new hose, but it won't plug in. I go back to FCP... the clip kit's not in stock, but I bug them and they find me an o-ring. Clip kit is ordered for the next day.

The o-ring turned out to be the one for inside the firewall socket... not for the hoses, but in any case when the clip kit comes in, I install it and again, the hose WILL NOT go into the firewall. I check to make sure nothing's broken. The new hose will plug into the upper connector. The old hose will plug into the lower connector. The new hose won't plug into the lower connector. Hmm.

Ok with all pieces out on the bench, the problem is apparent.



The new hose is almost 1/4 inch longer at the end than the old hose. The rubber part is correct. It seems that some hoses were made with the incorrect end- the fitting is the one for the upper hose. These were made by URO Parts and do show a tag with the correct part number.



I had FCP send up another hose from the warehouse and guess what? It's wrong too. A batch of bad ones from a supplier. As for the clip kit, I would say if your o-rings are in good shape, you can simply replace the hose and transfer everything to the new hose. The clip is made differently but the seals are all the same. The basic difference is the clip and spacer are 2 pieces originally and 1 piece with the new kit. However, they're easy parts to break, so I'd suggest ordering the kit with the hoses. They really ought to come with them. The clip kit, which does 2 hoses (1 car set) is $21- almost doubling the cost of one heater hose.

My fix: I used the tubing cutter in the picture to shorten the end of the brass fitting by about 1/4". Worked fine, I beveled the edge of it smooth, put a little lube on the o-rings, and the assembly snapped into the heater core without an issue. No leaks.

I'll post another message with the oil leak issues...

--Rob Bareiss, New London, CT