plastic coolant three-way above exhaust manifold??????

[Funnyman141]

In my '87 2.3L ranger I was trying to take out the O2 sensor when a plastic three way piece broke spraying me and my dad in coolant as we looked we saw that it was hanging above the exhaust manifold? was it supposed to be their? and where could I find a metal replacement?


Thanks for all the help!
Funnyman141

 

[Mark_88]

The three-way tee (only one I know of) comes off the heater core/intake and I've never seen a metal one...I actually have two of them (one spare) right now and they're both plastic...should be a 3/8" and a 5/8" hose split and if you follow one of the leads off the water pump you should find where it broke...

They are not hard to replace, but finding a metal one might be a problem...although you might be able to run a 5/8" brass tee from a plumbing supply store and use a metal step-down to the 3/8" line going into the manifold...

But that is a bit more expensive and usually not worth it...the plastic ones are about $2.00 and you can buy two of them to have a spare in case it happens again...

 

[Funnyman141]

yea I took it to autozone and they couldn't find a replacement for it, they thought it was an aftermarket piece. thanks for clearing that up but why did they put it right above the exhaust manifold anyway? seems like a silly spot for it

 

[Mark_88]

In the original design, there is a metal pipe coming off the water pump and running beside the valve cover (I keep forgetting this) and on mine that pipe was shot, as well as a few other things...so I changed it so that the hose runs parallel with the other one going into the heater box...and split the pipe up near the heater box and ran the intake hose behind the head...

I like it more like this because it gets rid of the crap around the head in case you need to work on the exhaust, valve cover, or plugs...was going to take some pics of my windshield washer/coolant bottle upgrade so I might snap some and post them...

OK...got a pic...

 

[redgooch]

my 86 has a metal 3 way maybe you could find one in a junkyard

 

[kabappa]

I bought my plastic replacement from advance auto.

 

[Funnyman141]

I just got some metal piping and have been using it for a while

 

[86bigred]

just go to a hardware store and buy a plumbing fitting the same size. i have done this many times.