Radiator Coolant Hose Adapter replacement

[vborovic]

Recently I had some radiator issues on my Superb ... luckily the level sensor in the coolant container works, so it started detecting that the coolant level was too low. So, naturally, you just top it off and continue driving ... and such a fix held up for a week or two. I never found any coolant anywhere in the engine bay or under the car (and no, it can't just evaporate without any trace). So i figured the coolant container must be leaking somewhere, since I saw some scale traces on the sides , and some coolant drops on the bottom, like there was some leak on it, which gets active with the increase in system pressure. A few days afterwards, the coolant error came once again, and it started appearing more often. Did some close inspection, and found out that the radiator was leaking, ever so slightly, on the bottom right front facing side (you could see it through the bumper), and this was the obvious leakage source. Replaced the radiator, topped up the coolant and was happily driving until two days ago.

 

Started the car and was greeted with the well known message that the coolant level is too low. Topped it up, and saw a coolant puddle appearing below the car after starting the engine (some half liter went down over a few minutes). I was confused, since all the apparent sources of leakage were inspected and fixed (previously all the hoses were checked, just in case - no cracks or any other visible damage on them).

 

Well, the hood (bonnet, for you brits ... ) was up once again, and I tried to find the source of leakage, and this time it couldn't be a small one judging from the amount of the coolant that leaked within minutes. After some time under the hood, the issue was found - the radiator coolant hose adapter which connects to the cabin from the engine bay (under the windscreen).

 

 

The culprit was the plastic connector, which, over time, failed to properly seal, due to various whatever-it-was that was slowly accumulating over the rubber o-ring inside. The connector is a Y-shape element, and luckily, it structurally failed on the smaller hose when dismantling (literally fell apart), which meant the adapter definitely had to be replaced (without that failure, I'd probably just replace the o-ring, without paying much attention to its general condition, which was concealed with the hoses).

 

 

I've managed to figure out the OEM part number by doing an online search (the connector is widely know as a "pa66 gf30", which is imprinted on the adapter body, although you'll hardly get the proper part by that alone). The part no. in question (mind you, a 3.6 CDVA engine) is 1K0122291C. Prices vary, I've managed to obtain a new one (Febi Bilstein mfc.) locally for roughly 4 GBP (you'll find a MSRP up to 20 or 30ish GBP at some online shops).

 

 

It helps for the procedure if you have smaller hands and proper tools. The only thing that was taken off under the hood was the air inlet hose that goes from the air filter box over the engine to the air inlet valve/flap. The car is now 13 years old, with 223.000 km on the clock. Not sure if these adapters are known to fail/degrade as it was in my case, but I'd suggest to anyone having a similar age car to inspect this part before it disintegrates/melts/crumbles/whatever in the coolant hoses, making the repair that much harder.

 

P.S. The smaller, missing head piece of the Y- element was still stuck in the thinner hose (which connects to the coolant fluid container on the upper left side of the hood), and was successfully pulled out with a screw that was screwed into it while still stuck inside the hose. The thin cylinder part was basically dust/gunk that was stuck to the sides of the hose, and had to be dug out.

 

[ethel]

Thanks for sharing that - it's one to keep an eye out for, definitely.

 

You have a quite a few more KMs on the clock than I do at present, but given I intend to keep my car for the foreseeable future, I can imagine that this may be something that will crop up at some point.

 

All the best,

Dave.