Well, it looks like it is my turn for the coolant hose underneath the supercharger replacement.....been having a small coolant loss with occasionally the smell for about 6 months....never have seen coolant at the rear of engine so i was suspecting the plastic tank...a pressure test would drop, but stay at 10 psi....i was finally able to shine my flashlight at just the right spot at the back of the engine in a small gap beside the bypass vacuum diaphragm...saw the wet colored spot on the rear of the valley cover.....anyway, i planned on doing a first stage pulley swap on car...now i will do it on the bench....i will now be able to check all fittings and such at the throttle body and check my egr pipe as well....i will get the hose and any gaskets beforehand....with luck, i can take my time on a weekend ....i have 2 areas of bad sciatica that i work around.....at least i should not have to be up and down off of the creeper.,..i have been reading up on the charger removal for a couple months now anticipating this repair....thanks to many forum members for their detailed posts....car has 160,000 miles on it, so i think i got my money's worth....and thank heaven it did not blow out on the street....will make repair in 2 to 3 weeks i figure.....as always, any advice or anything is always welcome.....will keep everyone posted as progress is made

 

Alrighty then..


I'm looking forward to following this thread probably WAY more than you are. My 03 STR has no record of having that hose replaced. 107250 on the odometer.

Good luck and keep us posted,

 

hi
did mine not so long ago
take care when removing the 2x 8mm fixing pins for the egr, if the heads round off, it make the job a nightmare, as theres next to no space there
removing the egr, is the most awkward part
cheers
Joe

 

From what I can gather my 'heater return hose' is not yet leaking at 72 thousand miles but at 17 years of age I think I should probably now change one or two of the hoses lol..
The 'thermostat housing to coolant inlet hose', (short elbow hose) I've noticed has been the softest hose for a while now with a tiny hole that became a bigger hole yesterday! Managed to at least get the car home okay though. My fault not to change it earlier..
To change that little hose though from what I gather so far is pretty much 30% of the way to changing the heater return hose; so 'my turn now' as well. In my case I have noticed that short hose is hard up against the supercharger snout rib which may explain why it's so soft AND the hole in that hose appears to have been caused from rubbing against the snout rib... Has anyone had a similar problem? I'll see where the new hose sits after I fit it but it may need a protective sleeve as well?




RH drive vehicle so I don't have the cabin air intake box in the way.







Small elbow hose

 

i put corrugated split loom on every hose i could get to, including the big ones

 

Did you do this to provide thermal protection?

 

It does a little for thermal, but i put it on for abrasion

 

update...well, I lucked out...upon looking at what I was getting myself ready for i found the coolant leak...It was the short fat elbow hose that goes from the thermostat water manifold to the engine...i was poking around and as i touched the hose I saw a coolant droplet form...apparently when it leaked it ran down the backside and ended up on the back of the valley cover...it was a small weird split that was through the outer skin, but not all the way through...the inner part of the hose was old and permeated enough to allow the coolant to leak...anyway, I replaced the hose today and everything is great with the cooling system again...I did buy the valley hose before I made my discovery, but it was only 12 bucks so no big deal...i will eventually do the valley hose, but for now all is good...I did a pressure test with my tester and this is the first time it held the correct pressure since I have owned the car...I also replaced the tension clamps with worm clamps and made that part of it way easier....my daughter is getting me my pulley for xmas...my son is using my truck right now while his is being fixed, so this repair needed finished asap...when I have my truck back I can shut the car down as long as I like and really take my time for the valley hose and pulley swap and if I break a plastic connector or hose at the throttle body I can wait on the correct parts

 

Sounds like a lucky break!

Good on ya.

I'm thinking mine will be a winter project. Does anyone have a comprehensive list of the parts we need before we dive into this?

Hoses/gaskets etc?

Thanks

 

aarcuda just had the whole top end off and he is very good with saving his info...if he chimes in he should have them for his 06 str...yours is 03, so I do not know if it will be the same....but, at least a good starting point

 

I sure do! plus some parts that I didnt need! i will find the list and post it

 

My turn now..And confirmed it is the dreaded coolant hose under the super charger. Fired the old girl up to take Sunday drive and the low coolant light was on.

Pulled her back into the garage and applied 10 psi using a pressure tester...the large end of the line has developed a pin hole that shot coolant over the drivers side fender..

The adventure begins...

 

Good luck Mark. The biggest problem I had was hurting my back doing this job. I felt my back 'pinch' after hopping out of the shower one morning after about 3-4 days of bending in the engine bay but I was ignorant and kept going for another 3-4 days more until I could not move for a day or two.
I sit in a desk for most of the day and my back is not used to this position for such long periods. Also most of the work I do on my other cars is not in that forward bent position. Probably was only muscular or a bulging disk initially but physio tells me it looks like a herniated disk. It has now developed into full blown sciatic nerve pain. That pain is constant in my thigh. Probably 6 week recovery....
Only myself to blame. Watch your back!