Any tips to straighten crushed heater core tube?

[CyFi6]

Well one of my heater core tubes (the outlet one on the drivers side) is crushed from a long time ago when I used pliers to remove the hose:3d_frown:. It's not terrible but it's not round anymore at the end and I think it might be the source of my problems. Everytime I hook up the heater core I get the waterfall sound and lots of air in the upper hose of my radiator(no external leaks though), but after I bypass it, I get no air in the upper hose at all. There's no heater core leaks as far as I know, so I want to fix this problem first and then pressure test it. Any tips would be great, thanks.

 

[benchwarmer]

Not going to find a pipe expander that small but maybe a large diameter punch from Harbor Freight would press it back out. Did you cut the jiggle valve off the thermostat and burp the cooling system with the car on an incline?

 

[te72]

Here's a tip for ya Cyrus, just bypass your heater. God knows you don't need it in AZ, even during the coldest parts of January. However, that does sound like the root of the problems you've been trying to trace down with your coolant issues.

That said, I would recommend some sort of VERY slightly tapered metal, just slightly smaller than the pipe itself. I know it's not very long before it bends at that 90* toward the core right there, so good luck. Might have good luck with deep well sockets if you have a decent selection. My guess is that a 14mm deep would be pretty close, going off memory.

Seriously though, disconnect that crap. I went without a heater in two of my cars up here in Wyoming, where it's already dropping into the 30's regularly, and it's barely getting STARTED with the cold weather, you can man up in AZ.

Oh, and you gonna be going to SILV? PM me...

 

[CyFi6]

LOL it gets into the 30's here in the early mornings, I dont see a need to suffer, not to mention I prefer everything on my car to function. I will see what I can do with sockets but I'm afraid of damaging the thing worse than it already is, I dont want to push inwards on it too hard as I could end up bending the whole thing or creating a leak inside the car.
-Probably not going to SILV, just won't work out with work and school unfortunately.

 

[shaeff]

If you can't find a punch or something that fits the inner diameter snugly, and tap it out straight with a small hammer, I'd just replace the pipe. You can still get it from the dealer. Sucks though, as that involves pulling the dash.

If you can get the pipe straightened out a bit, perhaps some FIPG on the outer diameter will help seal it, but it's not likely to ever be right. If it were my car, I'd just replace that whole pipe, but then again, I live in NY where it gets cold.

 

[Poodles]

Not to mention working on it will probably break the very old seals that seal those extension pipes to the heater coare leading to a leak. I swear every company runs shit piping to the heater core that dents just by looking at it...

 

[bluepearl]

Flat/straight jaw external snap ring pliers work great for this type of repair. I saved many a heater core tube using this method over the years. Take your time and reshape the tube back to it's original shape.

 

[fixitman04]

go to your local hardware store, look on the pipe plug section you should be able to find expandable pipe plugs in that size. use its expanding to press the tube back in shape carefully. they basically are a piece of threaded rod through a rubber stopper with a nut to squeeze the rubber, expanding it.

 

[CyFi6]

Flat/straight jaw external snap ring pliers work great for this type of repair. I saved many a heater core tube using this method over the years. Take your time and reshape the tube back to it's original shape.

go to your local hardware store, look on the pipe plug section you should be able to find expandable pipe plugs in that size. use its expanding to press the tube back in shape carefully. they basically are a piece of threaded rod through a rubber stopper with a nut to squeeze the rubber, expanding it.

Both great ideas thanks i will definately try these out!

 

[destrux]

I just fixed this on mine, it was crushed when the previous owner removed it. I used a large taper punch and stuck it in there. It fit in pretty deep without bottoming out. Worked fine.