*Chevy Heater Hose Connector Replacement*
While doing some repair work on my Suburban I noticed my heater and radiator hoses were getting stiff and one of them had a small bulge on the end by the fitting. Since I had it in the garage decided it was a good time to fix it before it brakes. I am going to be towing some HEAVY loads with it soon. In the process of working on it I needed to replace the hose off of the intake manifold. Chevy used a quick disconnect on this hose, not one of their better ideas. These are prone to leaking and never come apart way they were designed to. When I took mine apart the little plastic retainer clips broke on me and one of the internal gaskets came out in pieces.
So I proceed to remove it. I was lucky enough that the connector came out in one piece; these have a habit of breaking off in the intake manifold. If that happens you need to use an easy-out or drill it out and use a saw blade to cut it out from the inside then chisel it out. Not a fun ordeal to go threw with, had to do this a quite a few times while working in a auto repair shop.
What I did for a replacement was go down to the local hardware store and find a fitting or a combination of fittings so the threaded end is ½” NPT and in my case the barbed end was ¾”, but some may be 5/8” this depends on your truck. In my case I needed three fittings to make it work and cost about $7.00. For just a new factory style fitting the cost is about $35.00 at my local parts store, and this does not include the male hose end. In some cases a person can cut off the crimped section of the factory fitting to replace the hose but I prefer to prevent problems down the road. When reinstalling the fitting make sure you use plenty of good quality thread sealant to prevent leaks.
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