another example of GM's dumbazz engineering

[mikeymo]

has anyone ever had to change the heater core intake nipple that comes out the back of the motor under the throttle body? apparently mine cracked and was the source of a minor coolant leak that was messing up the pressure in my cooling system. so i get a replacement part and right away i can tell that the new part is much more substantial than the old one. anyway to make a long story short. to get this piece off the car requires removing the throttle body, throttle cables and various hard to reach coolant lines. not to mention the piece is in the back of the motor right next to the exhaust crossover pipe. so i went to take the connector off and it fucking snaps in half with nothing but the threaded portion still in the block. tried using a thread extractor to get it out but the thing is made of shit metal that just crumbles into pieces and gets everywhere.....havent drove my car in 2 weeks...still trying to figure this thing out

 

 

 

 

 

any suggestions??

[Justin]

There is a special thread extractor made just for those, nice thing about the pot metal used is that once it all crumbles away your threads are usually in good shape. Good luck.

[pwmin]

try working on a bmw or change plugs in a triton and then complain about your gm! sorry, that did help at all.

[Manny]

I had the same problem you have, here's my solution:

 

 

 

Use the grinding stone and your favorite drill to reduce the sides of the intake nipple, (be very careful not to grind into the threads of the intake) - Like Justin mentioned, because its cheap pot metal, once the sides are thin you can use a thick screwdriver or a chisel and break the nipple in half.

 

The second half of the remedy is a 1/2" pipe nipple from your local hardware store. The smaller section is 1/2" the larger section is 5/8", and I added a regular garden hose nib to the 5/8ths side, the reducing kind with the barbs on it to hold some regular 5/8ths heater hose, and just clamp it off.

 

I went through the extra trouble so I could avoid using GM's cheap metal, the plastic tabs that hold the pipe inside the nipple used to wiggle loose at the worst possible moments (like at WOT).

 

If you use my suggestion, be sure and coat the pipe threads with pipe thread sealant.

 

If you want to just keep yours stock, I have an extra heater core intake nipple that I got from the j/y (that I will never use), that you can have.

 

I can get you more pics if you need to see exactly what I did.

[PeNZ]

I had to do that on my old firebird, pita.

[Brian P]

yup, the 2nd thing to break on my '90 Cutlass when I was 17, was that. First was the water pump.

[sdwhite]

Yup. I popped my hood after driving it once and noticed steam coming up from under the throttle body. After unhooking a bunch of crap, I saw that the coolant was SEEPING OUT OF THE METAL!... Yea... I didn't have didly for tools (was up at college) so I had a guy do it for me. Not fun.

[chadz34]

I had to get my heater core replaced.

[Crazy K]

Use of the pipe fitting with a hose is not recommend! The hose may suffer a short life as in is immediately next to the exhaust crossover pipe.

I have heard that the gm dealer part is now made of stainless steel, offering the best option to replace your old fitting.

However the same fitting (still looks like pot metal, but is much heavier/denser) is availible at autozone for around $13 US. I've done this twice and had no problems. (on different cars of course!) Oh, make sure you don't accidently pick up the one meant for 4.3 engines! Been there done that.

- ken