Heater tap.

[VYMAD]

Hey if coolant is leaking where the heater hoses go into the black poly plastic assembly at the heater tap, then does my son need to replace that entire assembly including the metal heater tap? Need to know asap, cheers.

[Brett_jjj]

The plastic pipes that the hoses join, go brittle and crack or break off..Complete replacement taps are around $50 from holden.Thats for a VS model though.

[VYMAD]

Thank you, Holden close soon, but Repco have one for same price, looks like it's heater tap replacement time.

[Brett_jjj]

Mine broke just from touching it,it was so brittle.So when I replaced it,I moulded a thick layer of reflective foil tape around the new tap.The tap sits pretty close to the exhaust manifold,and if you have extractors fitted,they sit even closer to it,and I think this is why the taps end up being so brittle.I doubt the coolant would be hot enough to cause this by itself..I guess time will tell if the reflective foil makes any difference or not..

[edals]

Mine broke just from touching it.

THats why every service i check both cars and wiggle the hoses and see if they snap off, had it happen once before, so at least i could replace it before going on a trip somewhere.

[pablo]

Thats a good idea Brett, insulate the tap from the radiant manifold heat, must do it to my tap!

[SPLcamry]

$50 ####ing hell LOL i paid $35 from repco :S

[Brett_jjj]

Yeah,most of the time you will find you pay more for genuine parts.Ive had, and have seen, too many problems with cheaper aftermarket parts,so I just stick with genuine parts instead.Paying the extra is worth it to me if it saves me from a breakdown, or having a part fail at an inconvenient time,which I havent had happen yet,unlike other people I know who have had breakdowns etc caused from "so called" cheaper parts.They arent cheaper in the long run if they dont last long compared to a genuine part.Or if you have to pay for towing etc,but most people dont look at it like that,they just see a cheaper part and go for it not thinking about the long term.Crank angle sensors are a good example.I know people who have fitted 3 cheapie crank angle sensors to my one genuine one.I pay $120 for genuine,they pay $50 for aftermarket,Ive used 1 to their 3,Thats $150, versus my $120.Thats not including fitting either, if you cant do it yourself.

[edals]

+ 1 on the genuine parts I always use them, i used genuine gaskets cause hey they lasted 200k why change??

[PRAVX II S]

You can bypass the heater hose to the block.
The only thing is that you wont have heater.
This happen to me when i went for a drive and notice bit of coolant leaking it was the heater tap.
I just bypassed it until i had time to change it

[fitz_vt]

pretty easy to replace the heater tap and id fabricate a heat shield as brett did theyre usually made out of metal curved around the heater tap just make sure it doesnt hinder the tap function. (im designing one that clips on around the heater tap )