Thread: Do both coolant elbows need changed with a lim job?

My father in law gave my wife a 01 bonneville (their old car) and the lim gasket was leaking so he said he'd pay for it to get fixed and he took it to a shop to fix it and when we got it back it smelled like coolant pretty bad but i just figured it was just because they didn't get the excess wiped off. A few days later i noticed a puddle under the car and looked around and saw the lower elbow leaking a little bit so we went to the shop and they said that's not part of the lim job and they don't take the alt bracket off to do it so he's gonna pay to fix this too. I don't mind it was a free car and free service but I think he might be getting ripped off. So let me know what you guys think. Thanks

They should...now whether they do or not...is on them. The Coolant Elbows have rubber o-rings just like anything else and degrade over time with heat, wear/tear, etc. It is seriously $4 or less from O'Rielly's in the HELP! section...if they didn't change both of them out...then honestly, yes they were taken to town because they need replacing.

I just figured it was a given like changing the thermostat on a 3.1/3.4 when doing the lim gasket.

Some people like to half a** things.

Been there, done that.

I don't do that anymore.

That's insane they won't, it's three (3) bolts no? 2 Elbows for $10 or less and what, ten minutes? Wow... Not cool!
Is why I decided to dust off all my tools and get greasy once again. Better off just doing it yourself, this way you know it's done and done right!

I would do it but he said he'd pay for it and it give me more free time to mess with my gtp.

I bet the shop still has the other one they didn't install. They come packaged as a set!

probably I hate taking stuff to the shop because i've seen to many people get burned before but the price was right.

Elbows are easy to do...and you don't have to remove the LIM, just the alternator, belt, and tip the alternator bracket a little bit. You WILL lose some coolant...so you can either drain it first and refill or just put a pan under the passenger side of the car.

I would do it but my father in law made an appt to do it tom and he's paying so I'll just let them mess with it.

At a shop, time is money and everything typically revolves around taking off as little as possible or the largest pieces possible. That way you save time and beat the labor guides. It's not a bad thing and if the bracket wasn't removed, it's very odd that the elbow leaked. I've done it both ways (prefer to take the bracket though) and neither is technically wrong for the shop.

They looked at it today and said that the upper one was cracked and leaking so they just changed both anyways and didn't charge anything so it all worked out.

Originally Posted by matt5112

47065

What?

I have some elbows laying in the garage but my father in law said he'd take care of it so i let him.