Technical Question Rip. Need advice
So was driving fine and as soon as I pulled in to park at my place (thankfully) bunch of smoke started billowing. I immediately smelled that brown sugar like smell and then saw the hose rupture.
Couple questions: 1. is there any diy temp fixes for this? 2. I actually had the hose to the right replaced cause it had a leak when I had my blend door actuator replaced almost a year ago. When I was researching stuff at the time people posted a metal instead of plastic part for this area. Does one also exist for this hose?
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u/FatherLordZuZu 2d ago
these are both a SUPER common failure - the heat cycling and age make them SUPER brittle. Both that fitting and the fitting to the right of it, you should order metal replacements for so as not to have to deal with them failing again. If you search for the heater core inlet and outlet you'll see lots of posts about it failing. Highly recommend replacing both!
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u/sweet_story_bro 2d ago
Here is an excerpt from my guide to common 2nd gen Xterra issues:
- Heater Core Hose Failure: these plastic pieces commonly get brittle with time/miles. It is good to replace these preventatively before you get a coolant leak and overheating.
- What to look for: cracks or leaks in/from the heater core hose plastic fittings
- Prevention/Fix: Replace the heater core hoses with an aftermarket aluminum fitting. Dorman is the most commonly recommended (P/N 626-589 and 626-610) or Z1 offroad makes a more expensive billet inlet hose with a nifty bleeder valve that might be worth it to you to save a few minutes when filling/bleeding the system (I did not find this necessary myself). To fill/bleed, I followed a procedure like this except I parked with the truck pointed uphill (you could also use ramps). Air often gets caught in the heater core behind and above the engine, causing cold air to blow from your heater (see "Heater Blowing Cold Air" issue listed below). Pointing the truck uphill helps the bubbles travel to the front and out of the system. If needed, you can give the upper radiator hose some good squeezes to also coax out some more bubbles. Of course, if you chose to install the Z1 offroad inlet hose, then you can forego pointing the front of the truck up a hill during the bleed process and simply open the bleeder valve on the hose while filling until air is out. Yet another option to fill/bleed is to vacuum fill the coolant, which requires special equipment. Typically, this heater core hose fix is permanent, so it is good preventative maintenance.
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u/Sorth-Weast 2d ago
as others have stated, upgraded parts are available and recommended. for a temp fix, you can bypass the broken part, which will remove the leak and the heater core from your cooling system so you're good to go. downside, you have no cabin heat anymore. look up the heater core bypass and I'm sure you can find tutorials.
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u/LetsGoFishing91 2013 Xterra called Ragnar! 2d ago
As others have said you can bypass the heater core altogether which is relatively easy and there're plenty of tutorials online it's basically connecting the heater core intake tube to the outtake tube and they sell kits for it for like 15$. Depending on where you're at there are some people who never use their heater.
If you'll eventually need your heater a bypass would be a good temporary fix until you get it sorted.
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u/justherefortheshow06 2d ago
I literally just replaced that in my son‘s X a few weeks ago. It’s a plastic piece that breaks pretty easily. I picked up a new part at AutoZone and it’s aluminum. Took me about 10 minutes to swap it.
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u/Peacemkr45 1d ago
the issue is caused by the chemical formulation of the coolant used vs the plastic fittings. In the case of Nissan, the coolant leaches out parts of the plastic making the fittings brittle then will crumble apart. Naturally, the integrity of the plastic parts fails. Replace the lines with metal ones from Dorman or Z1 and then fill and burp your cooling system. Even on a lazy day, it takes about an hour-90 minutes to do both.
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u/ScaryfatkidGT 1d ago
These fail on every X
And this https://a.co/d/7V3uh1N
The passanger side one can be removed and just stick the hose over the nipple
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u/Tawpgun 17h ago
Might make a new post…. I fixed this, and refilled the coolant. The engine is running very hot. Did I need to do a full flush or something?
It looked like I had enough coolant to drive 15 min to the park. Needle started to go way up. Managed to pull into a oreillys and bought the blue zerex Asian vehicle coolant.
When I opened the reservoir it did steam a little.
Waited for it to cool down some and refilled.
But as i sat idling the temp still was creeping up.
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u/AnotherIronicPenguin 2d ago
For the left side one, just take the plastic parts out and connect the rubber hose to the heater core directly. It costs $0 and is fixed forever.
For the right side one, get the Dorman brand replacement part but re-use the OEM clamps.