Good afternoon everyone. It is Saturday, May 14th and I am happy to report that the leak has been fixed. Earlier this morning we went to NAPA auto parts on Elliot and Kyrene for a replacement hose. Unfortunately, there was a mix-up with the part and we ended up having to remove the hose and clamps we purchased earlier this morning.
Below are the images of the one purchased earlier this morning (trimmed to length), the new generic coolant hose, and the original hose.
The solution was me going back to NAPA auto parts, purchasing some coolant and requesting a different hose. The staff at NAPA admitted they would have to cut a length of radiator hose which I believe was a 5/8 thick hose. I’ll have to admit it was a little frustrating because we spent so much time traveling to get a hose and new clamps only to find they were not what we really needed. We found this out after the new hose was connected and we had started to refill the coolant. This is when we heard a slow leak, prompting us to remove the recently installed hose and revisit the entire process.
Ultimately, I ended up removing the coolant hose which ran from the bottom of the radiator to the thermostat housing in order to make room for the new installation. Luckily this left adequate room to install the new hose and properly clamp the ends. Once the new hose was installed and clamps tightened, The power steering pump was reattached. Following the power steering pump installation the belts were tightened for the alternator and water pump.
Finale more coolant was added, the negative battery terminal was reconnected and we sit out on a test drive. Joel and I drove the loop 202 to the I 10 without any issues. This was a good sign and gave us assurance that we did the right thing and performed the work ourselves. We estimated savings of well over $200 for the diagnostic and eventual repair of the hose shown in the image below. I believe this hose connects the thermostat housing assembly to the heater core since the hose connects to a pipe and another hose that eventually goes into the firewall.
We continue to upload images, troubleshooting tips, parts and tools that are going to prove useful for anyone working on the D21. It should be noted that the socket size for the work done today was a 14 mm, which worked to remove the power steering pump. This socket size also worked for adjusting the fan belts, one of which was connected to the alternator and the other was connected to the water pump. The other tools we used were a flat head screwdriver, adjustable pliers, a razor blade and flashlight.
Now that we know we fixed the leaks and test drove the pick up we will now work on adjusting the throttle position sensor in order to achieve an optimal speed when starting from stop. In order to do this I believe we need a multi-meter and a lot of patience. We once again considered subcontracting out the work of fine-tuning the idle speed.
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