[TonyM315]

All-

With the dash and heater unit out of my 1989 Spider Veloce, I'm in the process of replacing the heater core, fan, and associated heater & drain hoses.

The upper heater hose that goes to the intake looks to be a piece of cake to replace.

The lower heater hose - on the other hand - appears to exit the firewall, then vanishes down below - runs alongside the passenger fender (under the intake plenum amongst other hoses) and ultimately ends up at the water pump.

What I'm wondering is for anyone who has replaced the lower heater hose in an S3, did you have to remove anything in the engine compartment to properly route this hose? Or.. did you just kind of 'snake' it through? I checked the service manual and while it does show routing for this hose, I just didn't want to dive in without first checking with someone that has replaced this particular hose before...

Thank you for insights!

Tony

 

[Duke58]

Tony,

I changed mine when I replaced the engine mounts because the intake manifold was out of the way. But, you can remove and replace the hose without removing the intake and all that jazz by snaking it through.

On the other hand- the top hose is a pain in the arse. If you have small hands and are a contortionist, it shouldn't be too hard. I don't have small hands, and have some arthritis problems, so there was a lot of cussing during the procedure which called for some drinking of adult beverages afterwards. Those are my insights.

Duke58

 

[TonyM315]

Thanks for the reply... greatly appreciated...

On the lower hose, yeah, I am really hoping to avoid removing the plenum at this point in time...

I can see the lower hose is retained by a 'clip' on the inner fender almost directly underneath the reservoir bottle (easy enough to remove the bottle) - but I was just concerned what all is going on with the hose under that intake plenum.

Are there additional 'clips' that are holding it in place? Or-- does it just snake under there amongst the other hoses?

Many thanks for insights. ...And as far the adult beverages - I think I already consumed my share after the dash and heater removal process. Oh my gosh what a job that was--- particularly on a car with A/C.

 

[alfajp]

I just replaced my hoses and did not have to remove anything other than set the reservoir bottle to the side so I had a little more room to reach the water pump.

That particular hose is supposedly to take a formed (read: expensive) hose. I took correct size heater hose and took a 1" radius PVC elbow (painted black) to make the bend from the engine throug the firewall. The hose does not kink with the elbow in place and I have zero flow problems.

As far as removal, I did take out the knee padding and lower dash components to easily access the connection to the heater valve. I strongly suggest replacing that valve while you are down there too.

Hope this helps.

John

 

[TonyM315]

Thanks for the info John - that does put the mind at ease about the heater hose replacement...

I am going to go ahead and do the heater valve as well. Since the dash and everything in that area is out of the car right now access to these things is not an issue.

Really appreciate the insights... will give it a shot this weekend...

 

[alfajp]

I am back home this weekend. If you need pix of what mu install looks like, let me know. Good luck.