heater hose fix

blood splatter?

The heater feed hose was leaking in my Trueno for the past couple of weeks, what started out as a small drip down the block just got worse until most of the block and a lot of the bay was a horrible orange rusty colour, and I was having to top up the radiator every morning before driving to work.

top left hose

The coolant was not very clean and the header bottle needed serious washing out, so I suspect that for a period somewhere in its life the engine had only water in it, so it was losing out on the anti-corrosion properties of the coolant/antifreeze. I wonder what the inside of the water galleries are like!? I have flushed it out and refilled it with a mix and will do it again in a couple of weeks and see if I can get most of the muck out of the system, though a fresh radiator is now in mind for the future.

One new hose and two new clips were ordered direct from Toyota and came in the post a couple of days later for less than €30.  Access to the hose is much easier when you unbolt the vacuum sensor from the bulkhead, otherwise its a simple job. The hose that I took out was in very bad condition, with many snakebite holes after appearing. I suppose after 23yrs the rubber starts to perish a little lol :)

Anyway I checked the other heater hoses, they seem ok for now, but at least they are cheap for replacements, and I think I will get a set of those nice Samco hoses that Kev got (but in black) when I put in a new radiator someday.

job done.

I gave the engine bay a quick and careful powerwash afterwards but that cooling system silt or whatever it is is thoroughly baked onto the block. Guess it will have to come out to be cleaned and painted next year!
I'm still waiting on some 40mm RCA's to arrive in the post which is holding up the coilover install otherwise my '86 is going great...