Coming thru August on Wednesday, the temp gauge was riding about a needle width above the half way line. Checked it out yesterday AM & the plastic Y piece that splits the coolant between the front and back heaters had a leak at the seam. I removed it with the three hoses with little difficulty (the hose at the firewall was a little stubborn).

Got to the dealer about 0745 today, held up the part, and the parts guy said "I know exactly what you need."

Obviously, a frequent flier.

They only sell the whole assembly, with Y, 3 short hoses and the bent tubing. $125. He had one out in less than a minute.

I took the Y and the hoses off the new piece rather than futz around behind/under the engine.

It took longer to get the old one off than to put the new one on.

Test drive & all's well before 0900.

 

Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear it was a relatively quick/painless job.

 

That's okay. My 2008 Dodge Caravan had a coolant leak for quite awhile before being discovered by me when I overheated the engine( previously had the random tiny burnt smell come and go). I had taken my vehicle to the same dealership where I bought it/ as well as the extended warranty for EVERY service, yet they never alerted me to any problem with it. Once it overheated, I took it in immediately, they quickly found the problem. Care to guess? You got it! The seam on the plastic "Y" piece.....grrrrr!

 

The short version - this is a common problem you can repair for less than $20 in about half an hour using a Tee fitting and some screw clamps. Check threads on this forum.