help identify a part!

i have no idea what it is called but it is leaking coolant and causing my motor to over heat! :wow: i need some help. i'm not sure if it is the hose or the plastic thing but i need to get it fixed or i'll be stuck at work forever. lol so here are the pictures. the first one is just the general location and the second one is a closer up view. it's taken with a crappy cell phone camera so i'm sorry if it is too blurry. thanks in advanced!!! oh, it is a 1991 Jeep Cherokee Laredo 4x4 I6. Thanks!

holy crap that picture is HUGE!! um... if i need to resize it, let me know.

looks like the heater valve. cheap at the parts store, and easy to replace. they crack all the time.

yep! it's the heater control valve! thanks!!! now um... is this super easy to replace? really straight forward? i don't really have tools on hand. i have some very basic hand tools at best..

easy to replace as it will most likely fall apart when you remove it. if you dont drain most of the coolant out of the system, coolant will go all over the place when you remove it.

um.... i don't really have anything to catch the liquid in as i'll be doing this in my company's garage.... ah well, not my floor. lol but i'll try to get rags or something to do this. maybe i should pick up some coolant too just in case. thanks

Mine is leaking too, I was wondering how much coolant I can expect to lose when I disconnect it. I replaced one on a Renix closed system (looked a lot different, just a 4-way tee with no valve) , it was no big deal, but I did that while I was changing the water pump so I have no idea how messy it would be otherwise.

How easy it is to replace depends on what kind of clamps it has on the hoses. I personally HATE the spring type clamps and I always replace them with screw clamps whenever I change anything. In this case, neither one will be too hard to get off, but I would replace them while I had it all apart. If you have a pair of pliers and some patience the spring clamps should come off without any trouble.

Then you might have some trouble getting the hoses off once the clamps are off. Sometimes it helps to hit the end of the hose with some penetrant like Kroil or PB Blaster. Twisting and pulling usually works well, too.