Repaced plastic coolant elbow
 

Last weekend my GF spun out the TI at the local Auto X, she ended up about 5 feet out in the grass. Any way when she drove back to the grid ,it was leaking fluid. Turns out the plastic elbow off the back of the head had snapped. No clue how spinning out a car would snap it but it did. Luckly we always trailer the car to the events just incase the car cant be driven home..

So yesterday I replaced the part. For any one that is doing this you probably also want to get the following parts.. Valve cover gasket , spark plugs. Since I had just bought the car I wanted to do a tune up.
I started by disconnecting all the wiring harness's on the drivers side and pulled the black plastic vent and the assembly under the wipers. With the harness unhooked on the drivers side it gave me ruum to move around the block of wires that sit above the engine.

I also pulled off the valve cover which gave me more room to access the part that is on the back side of the head. I removed the ignition coil block and the wires, making it eaiser to get off the valve cover. I also noticed oil in one of the spark plug holes. Not a problem since I had a new valve cover gasket kit.

To remove the plastic elbow It had to be done wll with feel. you cant see the part. I had to use a 10mm wrench with the ratchet end. I disconned the small hose from it and pulled the broke end out of the larger hose. I also had to use a ratchet to unhook the hose clamps since there was no room. Once I installed the new part, I then replaced all the plugs. I also used carb cleaner to clean the inside of the valve cover , there were a few spots of oil build up. I then installed the new gasket kit and put everything back to gether.

I didnt however blead the radiator enought and the car started to get hot on the test drive. I pulled over before it got into the red and open the bleader, then hot wired the fan on and let it cool. Took it home and let it run with the cap off and bleader open and topped off the radiator. that solved the problem and now all is good.

B

Thanks for the info. This particular coolant elbow, plus the one under the intake manifold have been know to crack and leak.

Sweet, glad you were able to get it fixed. I know that elbow could be a PITA! I never considered removing the valve cover to gain access. Sounds much easier and makes more sense than removing the intake manifold. BTW, there's another flimsy plastic coolant line that actually is located under the intake manifold that's notorious for cracking. It runs parallel to the top of the head and is also a mother f_cker to get to. For this sucker, you'll have to remove the intake manifold to access it. Anyway, good thing you caught it before things got too hot.

yea I bought the one that goes under the intake also. Its not leaking now so Im going to leave it alone. But Ill keep it in the trunk just incase...

B

Sounds like the kind of issues my car is having with plastic engine parts. The ICV to intake boot hose is splitting. And my intake boot is starting to rot. So I have to take the top of the manifold off. I'll probably do the same parts for the m42 minus that second hose. The m42 doesn't have that one.

Sounds like I missed an eventful day.