did anyone have any luck on cutting the octopus hose and putting a clamp on it. mine is leaking and im thing just cutting it and put a brass pipe and another hose on it...BTW it leaking on the driver side right over the cat

 

That's a common solution to a common problem.

 

It saved me when I had first purchased my 2000 XJR. One has to be careful and not overtighten the clamp. I used two clamps on mine.

Eventually, I went ahead and had my mechanic replace the complete octopus when I did a head gasket/primary and secondary tensioner job. But, it was still holding.

 

Please excuse my ignorance but what is the octopus hose?

 

The convoluted heater hose crammed between the rear of the engine and firewall. As the old VW Bug repair manuals were famous for saying: 'Remove engine, see engine section'.

 

Octopus:

 

Dang!

 

Hey Mike, I have an '03 and mine started leaking this spring... same place as yours. I bought a heavy duty plastic fitting at the local hardware store and a brass 3/8 barb fitting. I tapped the plastic fitting for the barb and epoxied it in... I hope to install it this weekend. I know the hose from the engine side has a 3/4" i.d and the 3/8 fittting goes to the TB, but I'm not certain what the i.d is in the octopus side... I'm guessing it's 1/2". If not, I'll be fabricating another piece to replace the leaky joint. I'll let you know more after this weekend.

 

That assembly is a tribute to Rube Goldberg.

It looks like afterthought piled onto afterthought.

 

Be careful of the PVC or HDPE you get at the hardware store, the termperature rating on them is 150deg F, and your coolant is alot higher, so you'll end up deforming the fitting w/ the clamp. I had to specially order a 225 deg piece for my last coolant hose repair.

 

Hey H2o,... Thanks for the heads-up on the temp rating of the PVC... I did not know that! I may wait and do another spun out of good old aluminum or brass to be safe. One question... does anyone know what the inside diameter the hose is on the "octopus " side of the coupler? ... Many thanks to all

 

I was having the same leaky octopus hose conn. as many of have... mine was on the left side of the engine bay below the recovery tank. when I removed the old, plastic fitting, I was amazed wow badly the fitting going up to the T.B had deteriorated! I was lucky this thing had'nt sprung a major leak!... I actually had to scrape out the old bits of deteriorated plastc out of the hose. I made a new fitting made out of brass parts purchased at the local "LOWES"... they sell some "APPOLLO" pex brass fittings that I assembled with a 3/4" barb fitting on one end, a 5/8" barb fitting on the other ( the octopus side), and a 3/8 barb fitting that tee;d in-between the two. Once I'm smart enough to add pictures, I'll do so if anyones interested.
Anyway, F.W.I.W, if your cars 10 years old or more, I'd recomend looking into those plastic couplers before they fail. Plastic couplers and O.A.T coolant won't last forever.

 

Good job bug! I found the tee that I used, had to buy it in bulk though from an online source, couldn't find singles anywhere!, but I've got 9 spares on the up side 275 deg, 5/8 x 5/8 x 3/8