Thread: Coolant Elbows, does anybody have a better solution for these?

Go on rock auto and get gm or ac delco o-rings, and use them with the aluminum elbows. I did that and about half a year later no signs of leaks.

And just be gentle, that's a very good point on the timing cover Bill, it never crossed my mind!

I just spread a tiny dab of oil on the rings before I slide the elbows in, that way they slide in with very little effort and you can even feel when they're seated correctly. I'm still sticking with the aluminums, they've saved me so much trouble.

What's wrong with the seal gaskets that come with the aluminum elbows? Do these O-rings tend to leak or what?

Nothings wrong with o-rings. It's the same damn o-rings that come on the GM elbows.

Thats what I figured, no leaks yet so far with the aluminum elbows and the O-rings were provided. Though I haven't been able to find the heater hose adapter that goes into the back of the tensioner. RockAuto has them but it says not in stock. I'll probably just put a new O-ring on both hose adapters and call it taken care of.

I have an o-ring kit from harbor freight.. Have used them in that position.

Damn, I haven't even thought about harbor freight having them, tried AutoZone but they didnt have them. On to harbor freight then...

Long time ago I was doing elbows on my 97. Picked up the set and then needed a ring for the lower position..went everywhere looking for rings. Finally hit HF and got the kit.

A month later I was looking at the spare elbow in the package when it hit me... THUD

Are the O-rings for the heater hose adapter Metric or SAE? May fit either way but i would rather have a snug fit for the piece of mind of no leaks......

I use what fits, looking at which it is sounds too demanding when I could be done and drinking a beer.

Lol, yup....I ended up just buying both the Metric & SAE O-ring kit (DorMan), between the two kits they'll last me a lifetime....lol

A ruber o-ring deteriorated? That's a different one.

Gm ones and dorman ones have the same type of coating on them.

Well I hope I get more than a week out of them. They make more durable aluminum elbows so you would expect them to provide better O-rings too or at least up to the standards of the original ones. Coat them nicely and they should perform well, hopefully......

Heres the Dorman sets.....Yeah they'll definately last me for a while
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Jesus tits. That is a lot of orings.

I would love to eliminate the stupid elbow completely, tap threads into the alt bracket and lim then put some barbed fittings on get a piece of coolant hose 2 clamps and bam no more elbow.

Sounds good but if done you wanna make sure its done right or you'll have bigger problems. Why they weren't aluminum or some type of metal with threaded fittings/elbows in the first place I don't know, but every car manufacture has at least one thing to keep you coming back so they can make money. As long as your decently somewhat of mechanically inclined then you could manage those elbows easily with long intervals if done right. And that goes for just about anything on the 3800......