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Heater quick fix...


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Going back out on the Bu at 0600 in the morning...and don't have time to mess with taking it out and plugging the hoses properly. There are two hoses coming from the engine to the heater...one off a "Y" which is located at the back LEFT down low (if you were looking at the engine from above) and another coming from the top of the mannifold. I presume that is the one off the manifold, since how else would the water be HEATED going up to the heater. Inititally I thought it was the heater hose coming from the "Y" which is between two 1.5" or so ID hoses down low in the back as stated above, but if it goes from the initial lake pull, then it would be lake temp and do not good. Dontknow.gif

I would like to clamp the hose from the motor, and since it is NOT pressurized and/or pump driven up there to speak of...it would be easier to just pop a clamp on it in the engine compartment than have to guess which one off the heater itself. Right now I have both hoses taped together and a vice-grip over them both...

Anyway, the point of all this is...which heater hose coming from the engine FEEDS the heater?

TIA,

Edited by WaveMake'nLSV
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The one going to the Y pipe is the return line. The one coming off the manifold is the feed line. Be prepared for plugging the feed line only not to work. I actually have a valve on my manifold where that line comes off. When my heater core leaked, shutting the feed valve only slowed the leak a little...didn't stop it.

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With all due respect, how the heck could it still leak? I presume it would continue to leak a bit with water still IN the unit, but once the feed it cutoff, why in the world would it NOT hault? Hmmmmm... Dontknow.gif

Thanks for confirming my suspicion on the feed, btw. Rockon.gif

The one going to the Y pipe is the return line. The one coming off the manifold is the feed line. Be prepared for plugging the feed line only not to work. I actually have a valve on my manifold where that line comes off. When my heater core leaked, shutting the feed valve only slowed the leak a little...didn't stop it.
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Why not just pull the hoses off the heater core and connect them together (taking the core out of the loop). Obviously if time constraints don't allow for you to get the right fitting that's one thing, but I would think you can find a place with a barb <-> barb fitting that would be open.

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True...and I may swing by a place and see...but doubt many places will be open at 0730 on Sunday. *AND* not sure how much of a bugger getting the lines off the core will be, I imagine the core tips are reasonably fragile and they may be STUCK. I think that is what I will do (a) once I have time to swing by and get a male-to-male 3/4" barb fitting and that will hold me over until (B) can get something worked out with Heatercraft. My GF is starting to get the wakeboard bug bad and progressing nicely, so smooth water is what we're after tomorrow. Drool.gif She probably won't tollerate alot of screwing around at a store in the am. ROFL.gif

Thanks for the quick responces...both Big Mac and Crave! Rockon.gif

Why not just pull the hoses off the heater core and connect them together (taking the core out of the loop). Obviously if time constraints don't allow for you to get the right fitting that's one thing, but I would think you can find a place with a barb <-> barb fitting that would be open.
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With all due respect, how the heck could it still leak? I presume it would continue to leak a bit with water still IN the unit, but once the feed it cutoff, why in the world would it NOT hault? Hmmmmm... Dontknow.gif

Thanks for confirming my suspicion on the feed, btw. Rockon.gif

The one going to the Y pipe is the return line. The one coming off the manifold is the feed line. Be prepared for plugging the feed line only not to work. I actually have a valve on my manifold where that line comes off. When my heater core leaked, shutting the feed valve only slowed the leak a little...didn't stop it.

Both of the heater lines are pressurized on my boat (no Y pipe - return is to circulating pump), it's just that the feed line has higher pressure than the return. Turn off the feed line valve and water can still backflow from the return. On your boat, the return line is to the Y, which is between raw water intake and the raw water pump. Normally, you would think that that arrangement should have negative pressure and not leak from the core while the engine is running, but I don't know if that's actually the case. Anyway, I didn't say it's going to leak, I'm sayin' you should be prepared for the possibility that shutting down your feed line might not work. Best solution is, as others mentioned, to connect the two hose ends with a 5/8 barbed fitting and hose clamps (any hardware store will have that).

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For some reason I can't fathom, MasterCraft thought it would be a good idea to glue the heater hoses to the barbs on the the heater, as well as hose clamps. As it turned out, that inch of hose that I had to cut off x 2 left the hoses a little tight in the length department.

The biggest problem I see getting to the hose ends to put them together is pulling the driver's side kick panel. I had all kinds of crap mounted on that, namely the gauge computer as well as the Perfect Pass Master Module, so removing it meant detaching the heater outlet, unplugging both computers, and removing the fire extinguisher as well as the driver's seat. Then I had great access to the the heater core. Once I finally figured out that they had glued the #$%*@ hoses on, the rest of the repair was very straightforward, as would have been plugging or connecting them.

If I had been looking for a temporary fix, I would have just cut the hoses in the bilge and plugged the lines. Later, after installing the new core I would change those plugs to flushing T's. That would actually solve two problems, not the least of which is flushing the heater core with antifreeze during winterization in the fall. All that stuff, plugs and T's, are found in almost any hardware store. Prestone makes a T kit that even has a screw-on cap....very convenient.

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Edited by Big Mac
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All good points, Big Mac and again I appreciate your insite. We have a HUGE weekend planned for next weekend and I just don't want to be wrenching on the Bu' then...

I tried to kink the hose on the feed and it failed, sooooooo, it leaked as much as ever today but took a Chamois on one end and a large beach towel on the other end and mopped it out most of the day...indeed a PITA but the boat stayed alot drier. I plan on getting the said 5/8" double barbed fitting you described and sneaking back down to the boat this week sometime and fix it up.

BTW, my kick panel is still removed from an unfinished SUB install and my 12" sub is still mobile and sitting in front of the heater, so fixing it and later replacing it shouldn't be THAT big of a deal, IMHO.

Thanks again! Rockon.gif

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