New here. I spend most of my time on a Jeep forum. It seems my 88 k1500 for the most part needs very little in the way of repair.

I have owned the truck for several years. This is the first time I have changed out the coolant on my own. It was done once before in the shop with the replacement of all the freeze plugs.

There is this stock heater hose that comes out of the top of the manifold and into the heater core it is GM part #15961522. Its part metal and part rubber. It has this do-dad kind of nipple on the manifold side. I have learned that the early nipple was made with pot metal and if this is the original, it is likely to break off when I try and remove it. The hose itself doesn't leak. The rubber part feels soft and i'd like to replace it to avoid a sudden leak.

The part is available new, redesigned with cast iron replacing the pot metal.

It has some kind of fast disconnect clip on it. My questions are.

1. How does the quick release clip operate? I want to disconnect the hose from the nipple, remove the nipple from the manifold and replace the hose.
2. I want to replace the stock nipple with an after market one and use regular heater hose instead of the stock hose. What size nipple do I need? And what threads?

Anybody can advise?

Thanks

 

That is a quick disconnect fitting that should look similar to this one:



You simply squeeze the plastic ears and pull the hose from the fitting.

If I remember correctly the threaded end of the metal fitting is 1/2 pipe thread. You could remove the fitting from the intake and get a nipple with the proper size threads and a 3/4 inch nipple on it and then get a pieces of hose that is the proper length.

 

Ya, thats what mine looks like. Except the plastic ears are not white. Or maybe they are and have just darkened with age. How reliable are these when replaced. I saw on the AMAZON comments that when people bought the new hose it leaked. I'd leave mine alone , but I don't know how old it is and the rubber is kind of soft.

Thanks for your time.

 

I use the quick disconnect clips on my truck and they work well but I advise that when they are disconnected a couple of times it is best to replace them. The new ones work well no leaks, at least on my vehicle. They come in two sizes 5/8 and 3/4.

 

I removed the quick connect and used the metal nipple and connected the hose to it directly with a hose clamp. Worked great and never leaked. You can get the nipple at any auto parts store and don't have to deal with the dealer or worry about the quick connect leaking!