On Sep 2, 2010, at 7:07 PM, David Beierl wrote:

> At 06:41 PM 9/2/2010  -0700, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
>> Well, speaking to that -- what does that thing do? And is there a
>> plumbing diagram of the thing anywhere? Be nice if someone designed a
>> poor man's version so the next chump doesn't need to buy a darn $200
>> part.
>
> It hooks two hoses together.  It hooks two more hoses together.  It
> physically supports both hoses as they cross the firewall.  I
> *believe* nylon hose barbs would fit the bill.
>
> And it makes a restricted bleeder connection with a shutoff valve
> from I forget where to I forget which one of the hoses.

It bleeds between the two large hoses and thence to the heater circuit
at the pipe that crosses the intake plenum. The valve opens the
passage between the three hoses. Look at the web between the large
hose barbs and you can see how it all ties together. The valve simply
closes the interconnect. It's location is the highest position in the
engine compartment.  Everything goes down from there until it comes
back up for the heater/radiator. They usually fail at the small hose
barb to the bleeder.  Brass tubing and JB Weld can put Humpty back
together again.

Jim