GM's Quick Disconnect Coolant Fittings

[SamE30e]

It's like ford using steel coolant pipes running all throughout and around the zetec engine in my beater. You touch it and it breaks in 5 places.

[browntown]

Modern volvos are worse. But I have to say that Honda's are the easiest thing ever. Each electrical connection is a different color and shape so when you swap an engine, things go pretty easily. The downside to honda's and toyotas are they are built for japanese hands. I still cant figure out how to change the back spark plugs on 4-runners without tearing out half the crap in the engine bay.

My perception is that if you want something easy to wrench on, buy something old. Otherwise most new cars are good for 100k miles without doing anything major, and that's about the time I'm looking to swap for something newer.

[scabzzzz]

@Skafrog
Maybe its the BMW gods punishing you for buying a domestic vehicle?
My BMW needs coolant service, can I pay you to do it?

[Farbin Kaiber]

My theory is, as long as you replace these parts that were designed with convenience in mind, it'll be more convenient.

[Vtec?lol]

American cars seem dumb. GM and fords and such build cars so they can be worked on with ease.... But not by the customer.

Swapping the engine on a ford or chevy truck is super easy, everything quickly disconnects.
Swapping the engine on a BMW is a bitch. Nothing disconnects easily.

My theory is, as long as you replace these parts that were designed with convenience in mind, it'll be more convenient.

[dashboardmonkey]

those shitty GM coolant fitting are supposed to be replaced at certain intervals.

cars are designed to be put together, not taken apart.

as a mechanic myself i feel your pain, i hate those fittings as well, they suck

[xwill112x]

getting the dash back into a 99' durango was the worst experience i've ever had with american cars, its was a total bitch. i'd rather drive it the rest of the days dashless than put it back in a second time.

[Farbin Kaiber]

I've seen them go through intake manifolds. I've replaced a whole bunch (~8 ), and IIRC Dorman makes an aftermarket replacement.

[SpecM]

These metal ones are bad, but worse are the plastic elbow connectors to the cooling system that break every time you look at them... They are on all the 3.1-3.4 v6 family that buick/chevy/pontiac was running from 1997-2005'ish.

the whole cooling system was crap on those engines

they go through intake manifold gaskets like they do oil

[SpecM]

Skafrog: glad to see you shop at O'Reillys! I just started working there two weeks ago.

And those GM coolant fittings are total BS. Dorman/Motormite makes a retrofit adapter (along with a bunch of other cool/usefull stuff) that bypasses that crap

[mrsleeve]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Oh yes those are just tons of fun, I am a gm guy but god those things suck ass.

[Farbin Kaiber]

These metal ones are bad, but worse are the plastic elbow connectors to the cooling system that break every time you look at them... They are on all the 3.1-3.4 v6 family that buick/chevy/pontiac was running from 1997-2005'ish.

[Wiglaf]

are these connectors anything like the fuel connectors? I replaced I fuel filter on a ford exploder last month and the process caused me to throw more tools across the garage than anything else in recent history. even the damn release tools don't work unless you go buy the expensive metal ones.

I guess after caving in and getting the special tool it wasn't so bad but am still salty about it since I'll probly never use that tool again.

[b*saint]

Good point, while I was generalizing BMW's are pretty easy to work on even the new ones compared to a lot of other automakers. I would rather take a dash out of any bmw than any american made car.

Ever done plugs on a sti, thats not something I wish on people.


The GM fittings do suck ass, blew up a radiator on s10 about 4 years ago. That was not a fun job.

Plugs on an STi are wicked easy. You have to do them from the bottom and use a pivot head bent handle ratchet. Dont forget automakers make a lot of cars not you have to work on everything from below.

[b*saint]

i thought this was about GM, not honda and toyota. either way, im curious. can you list some examples of the bottom quality?

Sure what part of the car do you want me to start on? How about the piece of shit window regulator mechanism found in BMW's. How about the motor mounts found in a late 90's bmw compared to the motor mounts found in an early 90's accord. How about replacing the motor mounts? The shitty headliner BMW can't figure out how to make one last. The piss poor interior panel glue found in BMW. Not one panel is falling off my 94 Honda. How about the vents that droop in the BMW till the heater warms them up to close the tolerance? How about Bosch's dumb ass fuel injection system? I swear they were like "O shit ve veed dis too? Vhats ist in da spare parts bin?"

I love BMW for the drive but I put it in the same catagory as a GM for reliability.