Today I replaced the thermostat housing on my 04 XK8. When I went to remove the tube that runs from the overflow tank to the housing, the rigid nylon "pipe" snapped. High heat does make plastics brittle. I called my local dealer and the replacement piece was $22 !!! For a 24" piece of plastic tube. Instead, I went to my local hardware store and bought 2 feet of flexible 3/8" copper pipe. I bent it to match the plastic piece and paid $5, plus 4 hose clamps. Looks better and works great. Just thought you might want to know.

 

Posts like this is the reason why this site is so great. Thanks for sharing.

Mark

 

going to start the same project tomorrow . thanks for the tip

 

Please post a pic if you get a chance.

 

Not to be a kill joy but you may want to check with someone smarter than I to see if the coolant in your car will have any adverse effects running thru the copper and then thru the aluminum radiator. Its that whole metalurgy thing and galvanic reactions between different metals.

Just sayin!!!! If I did this I would have problems. That's just because some guy named Murphy seems to show up on occasion.

If you are really worried you could easily just get a piece of flexibly aluminum tubing to replace the copper.

Just a hint if the bends are at a kink point they make springs that you can put around the tube while you form it to keep it from kinking.

Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more

 

I was kinda thinking the same thing, plus aluminum and plastic tubing are fairly easy to source.

 

+1

dis-similar metals create a battery, and batteries cause corrosion to the weakest metal they come in contact with. I would hate to find out what the weakest metal is but I'm guessing it might not be the copper tube you added. Aluminium is a great conductor of electricity and you might find corrosion down the road that will be very expensive.

 

Get aluminum tubing instead. I use al tubing on my airplane all the time.

EZDriver 2000 XK8

 

Cool, what kind of plane?

 

Long EZ

 

If it works long term it's a great idea !
I'd have thought the coolant would have prevented dissimilar metal problems

All the best ,

Nik

 

I kind of chuckled reading this thread.

I posted earlier today about my past in restoring old Corvettes and using that copper tube would have been seen as sacrilegious!