heater hoses on '87-93 GT's
 

Tonight I noticed that my one heater core hose on my '88GT is leaking slightly. Those hoses are small in length but have some nasty bends in them. Do they sell them pre-formed or will standard hose from a roll work?

Re: heater hoses on '87-93 GT's
 

yes they sell the preformed. no, the roll of 5/8 heater hose wont work cause of the nasty bends. it will kink.

Do yourself a favor, order a set of all 4 hoses from Ford. They probably won't have them in stock but worth the wait. The aftermarket ones have pretty generic bends and still looked a little kinky to me. Also be gentle with the ends of the heater core, if they get yanked on too much don't be suprized by a puddle of antifreeze inside the car. Check your larger inlet hose for the restrictor too, if it's there cut it out and stuff it in the new hose.

If that happens does that mean the core is ruined then?

Yes
 

what you want to do is be gentle when you remove the old hoses,you want to take a straight edge blade to the hoses where they back up to the firewall ,and slit them ,so as removal is very easy .You don't want to be yanking on it (the intake and exhaust tubes of the heater core ) be gentle ... Also when you put the preformed hoses back on put some dishwashing lotion on the inside of them (sparingly) for ease of sliding them on (gently) also ,,intake side should have a restrictor inside of the hose! This backwashes the pressure (so as no to destroy your heater core under pressure) see if the have police heater core hoses ,if not there are a verity if the hose you buy does not have it .. like a small socket that you don't need any more ,or a fat washer that will slide into the hose (you only want to restrict the true diamerter a bit ) this is why many mustang owners replace their M/F heater core ,cause they don't restrict the intake hose !! Anyway take your time do it right ,think about it ,and set it up trial wise before ,go easy again on those tubes ,and make shure you have new hose clamps ,and a 8 to 10 " common screw driver to get the clamps from the side (firewall) good luck ,Michael ;)

I forgot
 

Intake tube ,is the one closest to the passenger side of the stang (just in case you did not no this ):cool:

I got the hoses on today. What a pain in the ***!!
Moc I did what you said about slitting the hoses at the ends and that was much easier. There isn't much space back there either. I replaced both hoses while I was back there and I didn't forget the restricter either.
The one tube on the heater core had a lot of "play". Is that ok?
I warmed the car up to temp and turned on the heat and didn't notice any leaks inside or outside so I guess I'm ok then.

Good Job
 

yea it's okay ,with the play ! depending on who made the hoses that week ;) yes they are a pain ,but now your in the clear for the winter :D take it easy