At 06:29 PM 7/26/2010 Monday, Steven Johnson wrote:
>Thanks for your input.  The hose is on the passenger side and is attaches at
>the bottom of the T-stack right next to
>a heater hose.  It goes about 8 inches or so and then connects to one of the
>long metal pipes going forward to the
>radiator.

If you have a manual transmission that hose is just [the equivalent
of] x inches of Gates heater hose.  If you have an automatic then
it's probably a tee with a nasty little hose going off to the
transmission cooler for $200 or some such awful thing.  In which case
you might think about the GoWesty kit that uses a manifold tower with
one more tee on it, and a length of plain hose (included in the kit).

If it's actually the junction between the hose and the plastic pipe
going forward, then you're no doubt victim of the famous "where did
the little steel insert go?" problem (answer -- it went inside the
big hose you're talking about) in which case your choices are to
replace the pipe(s) or to install GoWesty's ingenious little kit that
captures the inserts and keeps them from crawling away to hide.  A)
is more elegant, especially if you use stainless steel; B is a
heckuva lot cheaper, even counting the cost of the above-mentioned
manifold/hose kit that's a prerequisite.  You can see what I'm
talking about on their website.

I have (both of) those kits and my opinion is that they're well
thought out and should indefinitely prolong the life of those big
plastic pipes.  Total cost for me was about $85 (the pipe kit was on
sale) and I've still only installed the one where you're talking
about as the others haven't failed yet.  But I have them ready and
maybe I'll install them pre-emptively.

But as I said, the purists amongst us may moan and cry
sacrilege!  All I can say is that they have more disposable income than I do.

Yours,
David