coolant pipes for front and rear heater

hi all
today my mechanic told me unfortunate news about my van saying I should "sell" it because they don't make any more parts for it, i know toyota stopped making parts for the 4x4 but I'm determined to keep her. the problem for my 4x4 is the coolant system. he said the radiator is fine but the coolant pipes for the front and rear heater need replacing as well as the intake manifold bypass pipe. he also listed the coolant hoses and manifold hoses to be replaced I'm not sure if thats included above but i thought id list it any way. if anyone has any spare parts or knows of where to get these parts please let me know! help me keep my beloved van alive!! thanks for reading
my email is dunlap949@yahoo.com and i live in orange county california

There is no problem that's unsolvable. Things can get complicated and expensive, but never impossible. It all depends on your resources and your level of commitment. It is true that most of the metal pipes for routing coolant (external to engine) are no longer available. These however can be made by a fabrication shop. In some cases, you can replace the metal pipes with standard heater hose. California isn't a bad place to find these in salvage yards either. I've had over 15 vans and so far only one has had problems with these pipes, so law of averages would be in your favor of finding good pipes in a salvage yard. When it comes to the formed hoses, most are still available through Toyota. Here's a thread to help identify these: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...=2052#post2052. Last time I did a van project (about a year ago) I ordered all hoses in that post and got all but one (brake booster hose). Fortunately that one isn't special enough to need a formed hose, so I ended up using standard straight hose here. Good luck and keep us posted as to how you solve the more complex issues. Tim

thanks for your reply Tim! so heres my situation, I bought my 4x4 van about two weeks ago and after driving it to Santa Barbara the radiator light came on and after taking it in my mechanic, he gave me the low down that most the parts under where rusted and thats why i would need the new parts i listed in my previous post and he was super negative saying i should sell the van and that its almost impossible to find parts (which I don't believe). the engine on my van only has 166xxx miles on it and there is no way i want to sell in any way shape or form. so what do you think is the best way to go about this? should i talk to a guy at a fabrication shop? and order all the hoses? or should i try to look in a salvage yard? and how would i get info on getting into a salvage yard? sorry for the questions just determined to find a solution thanks for your time.:silvervan:

Okay, I think I'm starting to get a better picture. If you don't do your own work, one of the problems with owning these vans is finding somebody to do the work for you. The vans are no less reliable than any other vehicle, but when things get old they need attention. When you get the access panels off they are fairly conventional, but due to the time/effort it takes to open them up, many mechanics do not like them. Many mechanics are intimidated by them and bad mouth them as a way to avoid working on them. It sounds to me like your mechanic doesn't want to work on the van and this might be his way of telling you. I wouldn't want anybody working on my vehicle who doesn't want to, so probably time to start looking for another mechanic.......or better yet start learning how to repair yourself.

As to your radiator light issue, there's a float switch in the coolant recovery tank. When tank level gets low it triggers the radiator light. To turn it off all you need to do is add coolant to the recovery tank. If your van keeps losing coolant (light keeps coming on), then, depending on consumption rate, it might warrant further investigation. The appearance of rust on the exterior of these pipes isn't necessarily bad, unless of course they're rusted to the point they leak. If the pipes have pin-holes and are leaking, then they will need attention. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about them. If they are leaking, then I'd start looking at salvage yards for good used ones. Different salvage yards have different policies/rules, but I like the ones that let you go in and take your own parts. This way you can inspect as you're removing and also use the salvage vehicle for learning (practice makes perfect). I'm not sure about your area but here they have Pick-n-Pulls. Here's a link to their website: http://www.picknpull.com/check_inventory.aspx?. I'll usually check inventory every couple days, and try to strike when they get fresh vans in (best picking when they're fresh). Most yards will charge $2 or $3 for admission, then they check your bounty as you're leaving (charge again based on what you have). This (by far) would be the cheapest place to get the metal tubes. If you have a pipe that's only leaking in one spot, depending on material thickness, it may be possible to weld over the leak to repair (this would most likely require removal, but repair would likely be quick & inexpensive).

Having something fabricated from scratch would be expensive. In order for a fabrication shop to make they would need an old one (sample part) to copy. Price will depend on complexity, but parts like this can get very expensive (possibly a couple hundred each).

As to the formed rubber hoses, due to age these most likely need to be replaced. I would order at least one of each ASAP so you'll have on-hand. You should be able to still get these, but nobody knows for how long. Have fun! Tim

some of the smaller heater coolant pipes in my van have been replaced with copper. i will post up some images in a couple days.
you can also use copper elbows / straights and rubber hose together to make up hoses which are either too expensive or obsolete.

i took my rear heater core out and plumbed it back in the front front of the van for some extra cooling power. in the process, i took all the lines and hoses for the rear heater off as well. now i have a handy little spot to store bottles of oil, coolant, wiper fluid in the space where the rear heater and blower was. working out so far!

i'll take a look and see if i can find the metal lines. if i still have them, their yours!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pinkgrips236

i took my rear heater core out and plumbed it back in the front front of the van for some extra cooling power. in the process, i took all the lines and hoses for the rear heater off as well. now i have a handy little spot to store bottles of oil, coolant, wiper fluid in the space where the rear heater and blower was. working out so far!

i'll take a look and see if i can find the metal lines. if i still have them, their yours!

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In the 20 something years I've owned/used these vans, I have never used the rear heat. Because of this, I also bypass the rear heat rather than spend time/money on replacing hoses back there. I usually don't mess with removing the core (although that's a good idea for extra storage). Here's a link to a post I made the last time I bypassed the rear core: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...2526#post12526. Tim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pinkgrips236

i took my rear heater core out and plumbed it back in the front front of the van for some extra cooling power. in the process, i took all the lines and hoses for the rear heater off as well. now i have a handy little spot to store bottles of oil, coolant, wiper fluid in the space where the rear heater and blower was. working out so far!

i'll take a look and see if i can find the metal lines. if i still have them, their yours!

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sorry for the late response.. school and work has been taking up my time, but if you still have them i would be beyond stoked. let me know my email is dunlap949@yahoo.com

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pinkgrips236

i took my rear heater core out and plumbed it back in the front front of the van for some extra cooling power. in the process, i took all the lines and hoses for the rear heater off as well. now i have a handy little spot to store bottles of oil, coolant, wiper fluid in the space where the rear heater and blower was. working out so far!

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...heh,,,when I was in Mexico, I had that handy little space filled with bottles of tequila for the trip north. Too bad the rig was swiped in Tijuana! Them robbers not only got my babe,, I also covered the frikken party! :dizzy: :(::no:

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