How do you take this off?

Ya, how do you take this off? It's the lower tranny line into the radiator.





And on my way to class this morning my voltage gauge dropped to zero, the check gauge light came on, and i started steaming. I poped the hood and there's coolant everywhere. So much, that I'm not sure where it came from. I'm guessing my brand new lower hose. Also I've been feeling hesitations accelerating, but I think thats the fuel filter that I need to clean. And I was down a qt of oil. The coolant looked dark, but didnt seperate, and the dipstick didnt taste like coolant or look milky. So the thought of headgasket it running through my mind, but I'm not sure. This is a 97' with 187K BTW.

I could be wrong as I have not taken one off as of yet (knock on wood), but it looks like one of the connectors that you push together, squeeze the two tabs together, then pull the hose off the fitting.... Watch for the o-ring falling out though....

If you look carefully at your lower pic, you'll see two Nylon "ears" sticking out of the hose end. Squeeze those "ears," and pull - should come right out.

With the lower compression that the 4.0 runs, I'm disinclined to think "head gasket." Besides, I had numerous overheats in my 87, and the only reason I took the head off was because the lifters collapsed after I lost the oil pump (the head wasn't even warped - I checked.)

I'd get it home, clean it, and allow it to dry overnight. Run it in the morning for a minute or so - if the leak is that bad, it shouldn't take too long to locate.

5-90

I already took off the grill, hoses, and radiator (minus that hose). I'll pick up a new radiator and water pump tomorrow. I'm doing all I can while its taken apart, what a b*tch this is becoming. Maybe I'm a weakling, but I squeezed the tabs and yanked like hell, and I cant get it to come off, and I'm worried about mesisng up the plastic peice, I want this to go back together as easily as possible. And more suggestions?

YOu may want to push it in while squezzing the ears, then back it out, got a lip on there.

Iron Block/Aluminum Head engines need new headgaskets at least once, if not several times, during the life of the motor. An overheat can send them over the edge. So perhaps you have friends or people telling you about headgaskets being a commong failure.

BUT

Iron Block/Iron Heads rarely have a headgasket fail, even after overheating, Like 5-90 said. The Iron on Iron combination takes a lot more abuse and doesn't tear up headgaskets like the different expansion/contraction rates of Aluminum on Iron does.

Since you are replacing the radiator you can cut the piece of tubing that is attached to the radiator & work on getting the fitting apart easier when it is not in the worst possible place to get to. Just cut it as close to the radiator as possible with a hacksaw blade without the frame. You can wrap part of the blade with electrical tape so it won't cut your hands.

It's saws-all time my friend. When you re-install your various parts, just use the correct size rubber tubing and double hose clamp it to whatever metal fittings. Those funky factory fittings are a PITA, and they are prone to leaks.

OK, if your voltage gauge dropped suddenly, and you got overheating, it seems like belt-related. ¿Did you loose the power-steering too? Have you checked the main belt, it should be well-tensed, try to see if it slips sometimes and such things. All the pulleys (except for the one from the crank) should spin freely and evenly, too. If your engine was full of coolant, it was possibly the cap of the radiator (open system) or the cap of the coolant reservoir (closed system). A faulty radiator will have visible, and identificable leaks. This steaming seems to me more related to the overheating than to a leak.

The tabs stay, so squeeze the tabs and pull on just the hose don't pull on the tabs they stay on the nipple