Heater Hose Coolant Leak
03-05-2014, 03:51 PM
#1
Heater Hose Coolant Leak
Has anybody else had to replace heater hoses on their latest-generation F150s? Had a very slow coolant loss for the last 9-10k miles on my '11 Ecoboost.. Currently at 63k miles and I found the source to be coming from the heater hose that has a 'quick disconnect' fitting on the bottom of the coolant expansion tank. It's been leaking long enough that some of the residue has dripped onto the turbo charge pipe and has absorbed into the rubber hose that attaches to the turbo outlet on the driver's side turbo, causing it to swell up, as if it's oil-soaked. Not happy. Dealer originally wanted $500+ (as it's not covered by the Ford extended warranty -- they claim that 'belts and hoses' are "wear items"), but "came down to" $350 for the job... Screw that. It's a $45 part. I'll do it myself. Just curious if anybody else has had any issues with these crappy fittings? I would rather them use the old-school hose clamps, instead of this plastic crap.
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mcfarmall (05-03-2014)
03-08-2014, 12:04 AM
#3
I had that problem on my 11 ecoboost too. I replaced the heater hose and it still continued to leak. Must be with the reservoir. Weird I know. I got some silicone tape and rubber sealant and wrapped it. Hasn't leaked since but I should have just cut the quick connect and used hose clamps or something like you said.
03-08-2014, 09:06 AM
#4
Did you wrap the outlet of the reservoir with silicone tape before slipping the quick-disconnect fitting back onto it? Just curious exactly what you ended up wrapping? Do you have any pictures of what you did? Thanks for the info.
03-08-2014, 11:31 AM
#5
No I wrapped the entire outside of the connection. Then smeared the rubber sealant over the tape, maybe unnecessary. I can take a pic but its just black now. I got the tape from lowes it's red and I just followed the instruction. I think it's made for plumbing so it worked well. You can also remove it easy with a razor and there is no adhesive. Anyway, I'll take pic. I hope this helps. I don't understand why replacing the hose didn't stop the leak. Doesn't seem like the reservoir plastic could fail.
03-08-2014, 01:10 PM
#6
Has anybody else had to replace heater hoses on their latest-generation F150s? Had a very slow coolant loss for the last 9-10k miles on my '11 Ecoboost.. Currently at 63k miles and I found the source to be coming from the heater hose that has a 'quick disconnect' fitting on the bottom of the coolant expansion tank. It's been leaking long enough that some of the residue has dripped onto the turbo charge pipe and has absorbed into the rubber hose that attaches to the turbo outlet on the driver's side turbo, causing it to swell up, as if it's oil-soaked. Not happy. Dealer originally wanted $500+ (as it's not covered by the Ford extended warranty -- they claim that 'belts and hoses' are "wear items"), but "came down to" $350 for the job... Screw that. It's a $45 part. I'll do it myself. Just curious if anybody else has had any issues with these crappy fittings? I would rather them use the old-school hose clamps, instead of this plastic crap.
03-26-2014, 03:59 PM
#7
I had that problem on my 11 ecoboost too. I replaced the heater hose and it still continued to leak. Must be with the reservoir. Weird I know. I got some silicone tape and rubber sealant and wrapped it. Hasn't leaked since but I should have just cut the quick connect and used hose clamps or something like you said.
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05-03-2014, 12:56 AM
#8
Coming back to this thread, I had the hose replaced about 2 weeks ago and put ~3500 miles on the truck since then... I'm still leaking coolant from the fitting where the hose goes onto the expansion tank. I'm betting there is something defective with the expansion tank, so need to research into this a bit more.
The hose connection under the tank is seems overly loose for a pressure fitting, is there an O ring in there or something?
Based on other comments I've read I'll probably skip replacing the hose and go for some sort of wrap and clamp of the fitting. Hopefully that will control the leak while I see how this play out for others, there's got to be a permanent fix.
05-03-2014, 08:27 AM
#9
Senior Member
Has anybody else had to replace heater hoses on their latest-generation F150s? Had a very slow coolant loss for the last 9-10k miles on my '11 Ecoboost.. Currently at 63k miles and I found the source to be coming from the heater hose that has a 'quick disconnect' fitting on the bottom of the coolant expansion tank. It's been leaking long enough that some of the residue has dripped onto the turbo charge pipe and has absorbed into the rubber hose that attaches to the turbo outlet on the driver's side turbo, causing it to swell up, as if it's oil-soaked. Not happy. Dealer originally wanted $500+ (as it's not covered by the Ford extended warranty -- they claim that 'belts and hoses' are "wear items"), but "came down to" $350 for the job... Screw that. It's a $45 part. I'll do it myself. Just curious if anybody else has had any issues with these crappy fittings? I would rather them use the old-school hose clamps, instead of this plastic crap.
Using an inspection mirror today I saw a small white-ish residue on the bottom of the QD heater hose elbow fitting on the bottom of the tank but no actual liquid. I'm going to check it when the engine is hot to see if there is any liquid present.
There must be an O-ring in there to create the seal. Maybe a new fresh O-ring with some Dow Corning 111 on it might do the trick. This might be something we need to do every XXXX miles or XX years as a preventative measure.
05-21-2014, 11:13 AM
#10
Sitting in the lobby of Capital Ford service right now for the same problem. Mine is a 2011 3.7 70,000 miles, that has a slow coolant leak. They want $209 for a new expansion tank and $100 or so for labor as it's not covered under the extended warranty. I saw this problem on another vehicle and it was the quick disconnect. I'll be saving the $300 + and fixing this myself.