Am I being taken advantage of doing it the "right" way? Does it really entail shifting the engine position and removing a hoard of equipment to change the steel lines? It's an engineering nightmare!

 

The engineers are told the dimensions of the bay, and what they have to fit in there. It's not designed to build the engine IN the car, but rather built out, and placed in after the fact. A nightmare to work on for sure with most newer cars. Even the fairly roomy engine bay in my Sorento took a lot of twisting and moving of other parts, just to change the alternator (which looked like it was in the clear!)

If you're worried about getting ripped off by that mechanic, get a second opinion. If they're prices and labor hour estimate is about the same, than you've got a good idea what the deal really is. If it's a lot less than the first estimate, you can get it done there, or find out what the first place saw that jacked things up that much.

 

1997 Dodge Stratus, 2.4L engine 210k (older car not worth steel pipe replacement after they started leaking)

I completely bypassed the steel lines by going over the top of the engine by the oil fill cap/passenger side (there is enough space and room to still access all filler caps, cut off old rubber tubing from steel pipe where I could reach). I used 2 flush kit splices at the highest point by the cap for air bleeding. 4 short 5/8in ID hoses, 2 flush kits, 8 hose clamps some plastic tie straps to secure the hoses at many spots. I also used some pipe strain reliefs and was careful with the bend radius of the hose to not kink it.

It is not pretty but it works fine (6 months now, no signs of any wear).

Removal of the ignition coil give access to the firewall heater core connections and I did not pull the intake manifold; the one hose in there is removable by reaching between the intake manifold pipes (tight fit).

My 2 cents for those fixing the older cars.

 

I know this is seven years down the road, so to speak, but I was wondering how your (uuwave) replacing and routing worked. You mentioned it being fine 6 months later. Did you have the car several years after that? My 2006 Stratus is in the same boat and they want $825 for the job. The car is not worth investing $825, especially with other issues.

 

Yup, still working. Note the 2 red water line taps, you need those to fill up the hoses as they are the highest point in the cooling system.

 

Thanks so much for the follow-up and photo. I'm headed out to pick up the parts and will let you know how it goes.

 

I've found everything but the taps, but wanted to ask about those anyway... In your original post, you mentioned using flush kits. I'm assuming you're referring specifically to the T-shaped item that you hook a hose to. Did you wind up replacing the T's from the flush kit with the water line taps, or are the taps in addition to the T's?

Are the two taps 5/8 size as well? Any chance of a clearer photo of them?
Sorry for all the questions. You have such a good solution that obviously has worked long-haul that I want to do the same thing.

 

I found some tough plastic T taps in a flush kit years ago that were 5/8 and had a nice 45 degree bend that worked with the way the hoses needed to go. Any tap will do (flush kit or copper/ garden hose plumbing supplies..) as long as you have some way of filling the hoses and clearance to the hood. Be sure to secure hoses with plastic tie straps to keep them from rubbing/vibrating too much.

 

Looks great. We have three hoses in place out of the four. Did you manage to get a 5/8 hose over the right 3/4" core outlet? We're picking up a short segment of 3/4 host and an adaptor.

 

I got the 5/8 over the 3/4 core, but had to stretch the 5/8 out to 3/4 with a pipe flaring tool for a while. Better to go with 3/4 hose and adapter for sure, don't want to break the heater core pipes getting the hose on :-}