mrftog Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Hi everyone, first post! and a bit of an urgent/noob one Noticed a odd smell just as I came home last night and the coolant reservoir was completely empty. Proceeded to remove it and found a crack down the side, so I got online and ordered a new one today.. Fast forward to tonight, had a mate come over to check over the car and turns out coolant was rapidly leaking from a pipe at the rear of the engine! (so not sure if it is the reservoir too, but it's being replaced either way) Edit: the leak is on the underside halfway along the pipe being held, picture was taken as it was removed I have attached pictures of which pipe it is, sorry they aren't the best Is it a simple replacement hose jobbie, re fill coolant and off I go? Any advice for a rookie appreciated. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stef123 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Where has the pipe with the green connector been removed from? Looking at the picture it's from the bulkhead/heater matrix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrftog Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 Bulk head I believe? The rear side of the dash if that makes sense. My car minded mate removed it and I did wonder why it went in that direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stef123 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Bulk head I believe? The rear side of the dash if that makes sense. My car minded mate removed it and I did wonder why it went in that direction. Yeah, that's for the heater matrix then - the part which gives you warm air in the cabin. I've never seen them with connections on them like that though, is it broken in any way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrftog Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 Yeah, bit of googling suggests it is the heater matrix/ac coolant pipe. On the pipe that's being held in the picture, the leak is on the underside of the pipe where the darker wet patch is Is it a straight swap on the pipe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troy45 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I've seen that type of connection used before for the coolant joints on the HVAC unit. Should be a straight forward swap once you've got the new pipe. Helped one of our neighbours out who had similar leak on same pipework but car was an Astra and as the split was right next to the stub on the engine I got away with cutting it shorter and re-fitting it. These pipes take a fair bit of wear and tear as they'll flex continually with the engine rocking on it's engine mounts while the other end of the pipe is fixed to the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stef123 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Don't know why ford couldn't just fit the pipes straight onto the bulkhead fittings instead of those plastics connectors. Ford are good at things like that right enough. I would get another pipe and swap it, very easy to do. Unless as above the split is very close to the end of the hose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troy45 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Don't know why ford couldn't just fit the pipes straight onto the bulkhead fittings instead of those plastics connectors. Ford are good at things like that right enough. I would get another pipe and swap it, very easy to do. Unless as above the split is very close to the end of the hose. Couple of reasons I can suggest for Ford (and other manufacturers) using that specific type of connection to the HVAC - lot of HVAC units are manufactured by same suppliers and could be that they specify the type of connector to be used. If the pipes were fitted directly to the HVAC there would be difficulties in then fitting the instrument panel into the car especially if an automated cell is used to do this as the pipes would need routing through the hole in the bulkhead. And lastly I can imagine if using jubilee clips as an alternative fixing that tooling access would be quite difficult and possibly fall outside of ergonomic standards which are a major consideration when an operator will be doing the same job every couple of minutes for a whole shift at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stef123 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Any car I have worked on with or without aircon has always had the heater matrix hoses/pipe work directly onto the stubs that protrude through the bulkhead and held on with a spring clip. Never have I come across those connectors and it would seem to me like they are overkill and the also introduce another joint/point of failure to the mix. Any update on the leak? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrftog Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 All sorted today - new pipe from ford (28£!) and new reservoir fitted. Bit of fiddling later, runs perfect. Cheers for the help 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony75 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Sorry to bump an old thread but how on earth do you disconnect that ***** plastic clip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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