Repair of the Heater Hose On a 1999 Cobra
Two years ago, several of us noticed that the curly cue heater hose used on the outboard (inlet) connection between the passenger side head and the firewall connection was rubbing the small (8 mm?)heater core mounting bolt that extended about an inch out of the firewall. Here is a picture, looking down at it from just above the throttle body.
If you smell antifreeze, your low coolant level light comes on, and you find some antifreeze on the passenger side of the bellhousing, the bolt has finally rubbed a hole in the little hose. You need a new one and your Ford dealer doesn't normally stock them, so get one now to use when it fails. The part number is F7ZZ-18472-BA.
With the engine cold, drain the radiator, slide the two clamps in the pic above toward the front of the car along the hose with a pair of pliers, and then twist the hose slightly to break them loose, then slide them off the heater connections and then bend the hoses out of the way so you can get to the lower clamp on the curly cue hose with a pair of long needle nose pliers.
Here is the new one on the left, old one in the middle, and the
frayed cover on the right. Note the small clamp in the middle of
the old hose. This holds the flow restrictor in the hose.
It has to be pulled or cut out of the old hose and put in the new one,
then reinstall the clamp. Spray a little silicone spray inside the
hose then push it in with a long hut driver.
Here is a pic of the offending bolt after the hoses have been moved out of the way. I put a piece of tubing over the threads this time, since I couldn't get to it with a saw blade. If you have a Dremmel tool you might be able to cut the bolt off.
I needed a long pair of cheap pliers to get to the lower hose clamp. When I went back in, I rotated the lower hose clamp toward the center of the car to make it easier to get to with the hose in place, thus rotating it 180 degrees from where it was (no picture).
Here is a closeup of the hole rubbed into the hose by the long bolt------>
You have to drain the water with the engine cold, remove the clamps at both heater connections, remove the hoses and bend them out of the way to get to the lower clamp on the damaged hose. Move the water flow restrictor and braided sleeve over to the new hose, install the hose and clamps, then the other hose and clamp, put the water back in, go test drive, check water level again when it all cools back down.
Joe Lynch
October 4, 2001