Guys,

Some of you may know, I replaced my original engine with a reman back in January. It's been running great since then. I've been breaking it in, just recently started going over 6K rpm. I just got to 1500 miles on the reman.

Tonight when I got home (cold night, car was sitting parked outside in 29[f] degree weather for 4+ hours) I noticed a ton of smoke and found a coolant leak from the hose that sits just to the driver side of the wiper fluid res. I let it cool down for a while, and then I pulled the hose off to inspect it for cracks.

The hose looks completely fine so I'm baffled by the leak. But the reason I'm posting is this:


I just started laughing. I guess when I was trying to to pry off the hose I completely mangled the metal?? Is this even fixable? Did I just total my car? I can't even imagine how to go about fixing this or if it's even possible.

 

I don't see it as much of a problem. Try to open it back, worst case scenario you will need to cut\bevel it and a longer hose.

 

are you talking about a small tube on the firewall? there are two connections there and they are for the heater core. pics?

 

bse50, thanks for your levelheaded response. Sorry for being overly dramatic. I was just pretty pissed at myself for doing this late last night when I got home.

I'll try your solution and see what happens. Although opening it back up does not seem to be feasible. I don't know if it was softer because it was still warm, but it doesn't want to seem to budge at all. I swear I never applied THAT much pressure in the first place....

200.mph, can you see the pic I posted? Yes this is on the firewall.

 

heat it somehow. It should make the job a lot easier. If you have something conical in shape (like a vampire stake, lol) gently hammering it inside could open it without causing any further damage.

 

no i cant

 

A pair of needle nose pliers works well to reshape the opening of the tube.
Then I use a socket to make it perfectly round.

 

Are you sure you did this, and not the guys who replaced the engine? That could be why you had the leak in the first place.

I've bent a radiator flange or two in my day, but that metal was much thinner and I was always able to unbend with pliers. The needle nose plier trick looks like a great idea. You might need to use a wrench to get some leverage when you twist them. There are also tools that muffler guys use to reshape exhaust pipes, but I don't know if you can find any that small.

Ken