Finally changed my coolant hoses

[Russ]

After blowing my "shorty" oil cooler hose at during NSXPO 2004, on turn 9 at WGI, I finally got around to changing all 22 hoses on my NSX. Many thanks to drew for this post and of course, without LarryB's tutelage my car would probably be on a flatbed heading up to Warwick, NY.

A couple of things I learned:

Changing the oil cooler hoses were not as bad as I'd feared, you just have to remove the oil filter housing. I held off doing them until last so I could get practice on all the other hoses. Also, I have even greater respect for Randy, the tech at WGI put me together so I could drive home from NSXPO. He managed to replace the shorty hose while keeping the curved hose in one piece.

Use of a heat gun is key. With it, I was able to pull several hoses off w/o cutting, and I used it on every new hose going on. I heated up each end of a hose until it softened, then used silicone spray inside each end, and on each metal tube. This way, every hose slid on easily and was movable for enough time to get things positioned properly.

I did not use vise-grips at all, instead, I used three long-reach (14") needle nose pliers - straight, 45 and 90 degree offsets and one pair of regular pliers. I also found in some cases you can rotate a clamp to a more advantangeous position by pressing on the single tab in the direction in which it relieves tension on the hose. This makes it easier to get a grip on the tab when it's just out of reach.

One other thing I realized while working on the NSX: there isn't a single thing on that car the Honda engineers didn't think completely through. It truly is a joy to work on.

 

[NSX-Racer]

Maybe you could say something about the condition of the old hoses - age, mileage?

 

[Russ]

Car is a '91, so the old hoses were 14 years old with 68K miles. Except for the the one that blew, the hoses all appeared to be in good condition.

 

[NSX-Racer]

That sounds like a real good testimony for the parts Honda built in :smile:

 

[CokerRat]

Russ, how long did the work take you? Is this kind of work suitable for a less-experienced DIY / shadetree mechanic? TIA.

 

[Russ]

Russ, how long did the work take you? Is this kind of work suitable for a less-experienced DIY / shadetree mechanic? TIA.

It took me three days, working very carefully. I consider myself a DIY/Shadetree mechanic so, yes, you can do it. Must-have items are:

1) Patience
2) Heat gun & silicone spray
3) Set of long reach needle nose pliers like these and these
4) Xacto knife and several blades
5) Long 3/8" extensions, preferably the wobble type
6) torque wrenches
7) Acura fender cover

You'll also need to remove stuff in the way, such as the strut crossmember, air filter box & bellows, coolant tank (I replaced mine w/ new) and control box.

Go for it. Between LarryB (who can do this in his sleep) and me you have a support system. PM me for my cell if you want to talk further.

 

[TurboLexus]

I'd like to do this as well, but i'm way short on item #1


- Jon

 

[nis350]

the shorty oil cooler hose you mentioned. Is that the one that goes from the side to the top of the cooler right above the oil filter?

Does that hose normally break? is it easy to change? did you have to drain all the oil first?

Thanks.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Russ is refering to the other short one. These are the two most challanging ones IMO. You will get a little oil mess since you must R&R to oil cooler pedastel, but just a little. There is an "8" shaped o-ring behind the cooler I would replace also. You will need to drain ALL of the coolant though, since these are the lowest hoses in the system.

In some cases you can get the car really high in the back and only loose two gallons of coolant to do just thoses hoses, but if you are doing these might as well do them all, JMO.

HTH,
LarryB