Lower radiator hose spring

[kallisti5]

Swapping the rubber cooling hoses on my M1009 K5 (6.2l Diesel). (34 years and 60k miles, they're starting to crack and break)

Any opinions on reusing the coil spring in the lower radiator hose?

Pros: keeps hose open under suckage from water pump
Cons: I've read they can corrode and tear up said water pump.

I annoyingly just realized the heater core hoses are two different sizes, so I have a bit to ponder :-)

 

[kallisti5]

 

[K5wrench]

If the new lower hose doesn't come with a spring, I'd reuse the old one.
Particularly if the inside of your radiator shows scale/corrosion.
A restriction in the radiator will make that lower hose want to collapse.
Maybe pull that spring and soak it in CLR or white vinegar to remove the mineral scale and see what condition it is in.
My lower radiator hose; sourced from Napa, had a new spring inside.

 

[sweetk30]

5/8" and 3/4" for heater core hoses .

slice the old ones and carefully work them off . do NOT just yank or twist . the older cores can pop the hose pipe loose then your doing a heater core . the reason for this is the hose of the years almost glues its self to the pipe .

 

[kallisti5]

5/8" and 3/4" for heater core hoses .

Heh, yeah. I thought they were all 3/4" and bought some bulk. Should have measured.

slice the old ones and carefully work them off . do NOT just yank or twist . the older cores can pop the hose pipe loose then your doing a heater core . the reason for this is the hose of the years almost glues its self to the pipe .

Too late lol. I was a few beers in and the channel locks in a twisting motion seemed like a good idea :-) I bent the large upper radiator flange but was able to form it back. I cut the lower off because it was "well attached". Heater core appeared to make it in one piece. (time will tell though)

New lower hose didn't come with the spring. I'll extract it from the old and give it a soak to see what kind of shape it's in. Thanks!

 

[sweetk30]

if you need a core and want old school copper brass there still available on ebay ,.

 

[dyeager535]

I say don't waste your time.

The springs were used from the factory because they used a vacuum system to pull air out of the cooling system as it was filled, instead of running the engines. Properly operating the cooling system runs at ~15PSI, good luck collapsing a hose.

Being that the spring can corrode, and 99.9% of people never have issues with the hose collapsing, I'd say potentially more harm than good by reusing it.

 

[imiceman44]

I say don't waste your time.

The springs were used from the factory because they used a vacuum system to pull air out of the cooling system as it was filled, instead of running the engines. Properly operating the cooling system runs at ~15PSI, good luck collapsing a hose.

Being that the spring can corrode, and 99.9% of people never have issues with the hose collapsing, I'd say potentially more harm than good by reusing it.

I would not reuse this spring it looks bad enough to get rid of.
I have however had a problem with hoses collapsing under high rpm but that could be a high flow water pump problem.
Most vehicles under normal driving conditions are fine without the spring