Your 1995 Grand am with a 3.1 engine is leaking antifreeze from an L shaped hose that comes out of the firewall What is the hose called and why would it be leaking from there?

Answer 1

I have a 1996 Grand am with a 2.4l and the same thing happend to me. what is leaking is the tubes that connects the heater core on the inside part of the firewall to the rubber hoses on the outside part of the firewall (which connects to the engine). A smart engineer would have made these tubes out of metal but GM in its infinite wisdom decided to make them out of cheap plastic. the good news is that with a little bit of patients and creativity it can be permanently fixed for under $20. Steps: 1. drain the coolant out of the radiator. there should be a small drain plug on the engine compartment side. if you cant find it then disconnect the lower radiator line that runs from the radiator to the engine. be sure to drain all the fluid out so that none leaks inside when you have to remove the heater core. 2. Jack the car up on blocks (Safely). disconnect the heater core tubes (this is the spot where it is leaking from). I had to saw through the hoses. watch out because there will still be some fluid built up in these lines. 3. the heater core is located in the middle of the dashboard right next to the gas pedal. you have to remove some carpet and several plastic panels to get to it. this is the most frustrating part. it will most likely take several hours to get to it. be sure to have a 6mm and 7/32 socket ready to remove these plastic pieces. when you finally get to and remove the heater core be very careful not to damage it. 4. At this point you can definitively tell if the hoses are broken or if it is the heater core itself. most likely it will be the hoses. this part requires a little creativity, i used some copper pipe and rubber hose to make a new connection for a replacement of the pastic pipes. i cut off all the remaining plastic pipe, connected rubber hose directly to the heater core and fastened tightly with screw clamps. i used copper pipe to connect that rubber hose to the rubber hose on the other side of the firewall. becarefull to use the right size of hose and pipe to make this adjustment. 5. connect back up and refill the fluid. be sure to test your new system before reinstalling all those frustrating plastic panels, you dont want it to leak again! 6. most likely you will have a scent of coolent come out of the vents when you turn on the heat in your car. but this should go away with time.