My mother's 745ti looks as though it blew a heater hose last night. I got the car home alright but my mom flipped out because she saw all the steam pouring out of the engine bay. Anyhow I cannot see the exact location of the leak but it seems to be right at the end of the heater hose that runs into the block under the intake manifold. There is so much stuff under there I can only slip a my hand in there and feel the wetness. What kind of fitting is there on the end of the hose that runs into the block? How do I fix this darn thing? Any help would be much appreciated becuase its my mothers birthday today and I would like to fix it soon. Thanks alot.

Thanks alot guys. I got the hose off without much trouble but now finding a replacement hose is giving me trouble. Oh well I guess I'll try more local places tomorrow.

"On the turbo, take off the intake hose from the intercooler to the throttle body".

Sorry, I misworded my last reply. What I meant to say was "on Turbocharged models, take off the intake hose, intercooler to throttle body".

Again, sorry for the strange wording of the last reply.

Take it from us, replace all the hoses while you're at it, thermostat too. You'll need new antifreeze anyway, so why not.

Don't worry about engine damage, the same thing happened to my car. My wife was driving it and the hose went. It was winter in Colorado and she had to drive about 5 miles. That was in 1994 and the car is fine.

Can I give you a really easy solution to the problem?

Take off the intake manifold. It takes maybe ten minutes. Don't detach anything, just take it off of the head. Buy a new gasket--it can't hurt anyway. On the turbo, take off the intake hose from the intercooler to the throttle body. Take off the fasteners that hold the intake plenum to the head, pull the whole deal back and away from the head, and reach down to take care of the hose. It really makes it easier. The only reason not to take off the intake is if you're dead set against replacing that gasket.

It's one of those situations where you can spend one hour trying to reach that stupid hose fitting, then replace it, or you can spend one hour taking off and putting on the manifold, and being happy at the end rather than homocidal. Make sure you don't foul the cables on the throttle body.

Oh, and for sure, replace both of those hoses. You won't be digging in there again to do it, probably ever.

Eric, buy two new heater hoses (the OEM hose from the dealer or from www.borton.com is of superb quality). Also buy a heater water valve, since the one you have is about to break. Give serious thought to all-new hoses, since an eleven-year-old car is living on borrowed hose time.

The hose going under the manifold merely slides onto a nipple protruding out about one inch from the bottom of the manifold. The hose clamp is the problem. Get a strong lamp to shine down on the area so you can see what you are doing. Using a long screwdriver, loosen the clamp from above (through the intake manifold runners). If you can't get access, try prying the clamp around until the screw is straight up and accessible. Or use a 1/4 inch socket and a universal joint. Once you've loosened this, pull the hose off: with the split, it should come right off. If not, try rotating it first before pulling. Remove the other ends from the firewall pipes by loosening the clamps and then carefully slicing the hose with a utility knife (don't cut the pipes!) and then peeling it off. Pulling it won't work: it will be welded onto the pipes. Clean off the pipes with a potscrubber-type sponge.

Remember the hose orientation. Cut the new hose at the point of insertion for the new water valve. Mount the valve in the hose correctly, tighten the hose clamps, mount a loose clamp on the manifold end, then moisten the inside end of the hose going into the manifold with soap or spit. Push it onto the fitting so it seats at the end. It will be a pain, but can be done with dry hands and hose. Then rotate the clamp around and tighten it: another pain, but it can be done.

The water valve, BTW, has a vacuum fitting and hose going into it: don't damage this. You may find that you have to change the end fitting or re-use the fitting off the old valve.