Anyone familiar with how the Norma Connector on passenger side (Green Ring connector that connects to Aluminum tubing) releases? Surprised I cannot find this somewhere on here in a search.

Car has been sitting for some time in the East TX heat and it's finally gotten cool enough to encourage me to tackle the job. I'd have probably let the car go to the first person who'd have towed it out of the drive but now I'm kind of glad I didn't.

I'll post some pics when I can get this one connector loose. I managed to get all the driver side connections loose in about an hour and didn't cuss the first time (not that big a deal). As soon as I got the connection at the pump (behind reserve tank) loose the whole assembly kind of went limp. I got a grip on the section with the heat shield on it and that whole upper section slid nicely up out of the well. Appears the nipple on the drivers side of the valve (piece that sits on top of transmission bell had broken clean (hadn't blown the tubing off just ruptured inside the first inch of the connection.

Anyone that can recall how the Norma Connector releases will have my undying gratitude at this point. I don't even see a connection that looks like it on the Norma website.

 

Well I figured it out. For those out there needing same answer. It appears there's a top ring that will slide forward to lock the connector tabs behind the ring on the tubing. Slide it back and it will allow the tabs to flex up over the ring as you pull the connector off. Coolant up to the seals appears to have welded the connector to the tubing in my case. once I pulled the ring back I took a pair of channel locks and gave the whole connector a couple twists to break the seal and it slid right off.

 

This is just some input to any and all that might be looking at replacing the octopus hose.

I've seen a number of posts on the forum in researching this myself and I've run across a few that appear to describe repairs to the fittings in the octopus hose.

I'm a member of the forum to save myself some money doing repairs myself and totally agree that repairs to parts where available will save you vs cost of a new part. But with regard to the octopus hose I have some doubts that it's in your best interest, although there appear to be a number that have had good results. My primary concern with repairs to a joint in the octopus hose have to do with the nylon composite material used.

I bought my car in 2010 and didn't have an issue with any part of the cooling system. About 6 months in I noticed the telltale tick of bad tensioners (more nylon composite in 1st gen parts). While I had it torn down for a full timing component swap I sent the ABS module off to have it repaired. The whole time it was down I had all the cooling parts in a 5 gallon bucket (dry) to keep things organized. After getting the car back together it took about 2 weeks before the composite crossover blew completely apart (litterally disintegrated) while my wife was sitting in a McDonalds drive thru. I replaced all the parts I could with the upgraded aluminum. but the crossover is only available in the composite so I had to go back to that.

Regarding the octopus hose. I'd been suspecting it had a leak (and I'm going to look for additional signs) but all I had dealt with was the intermittent adding of a pint or so of coolant. Last fall the fuel pump went out, and I ended up having to rebuild the fuel lines when the primary sheared off at the flange. It set for about a month before I got to it, and it set another 2 between waiting for delivery on 3/8 to 5/16 compression couplings and weather.

I got it all put back together, my son and I cleaned her all up and she started and ran like a champ. I left it running while I went in to grab my wallet to take her for a spin and a full tank and when I walked back out there was coolant running down the driveway. Not dripping but running like something had been disconnected.

After pulling all the sections of the octopus hose this morning I was remembering all the posts I'd seen about replacing a tee or fitting and was ready to grab my PEX tool and go get a brass tee until I took a good look at the fitting. It appears to be the same composite material, as do all the other fittings. The entire nipple looks like someone took a saw and cut it, it's a clean break that I can slide back together and feel it line up. The raw edges of the break look like the end of an old bone you might find. They aren't solid but porous looking like a lava rock.

After ID'ing the remaining fittings as the same material, there's no way I'll fix it. I'm almost convinced that the material is somehow affected by coolant and pressure and although it may maintain as long as they stay constant, once it is allowed to dry out it almost appears to degrade, becoming brittle and unable to withstand the pressure. I'll definitely be ordering a new hose and I'm going to be keeping close eye on the relatively new crossover I've got on the car.