Heater Hoses Replacement?

Hey Guys,

I am putting this out there to get some insight. I recently had an 80 point inspection done on my newly purchased Hiace at a specialist. Overall my van is in pretty excellent condition.

The top three points of concern were as follows in this respective order.

1) Heater Hoses
2) Front rotors
3) Wheel bearings

That said, the specialist that did the initial inspection has been too unresponsive since that time (it has been five+ weeks.) I understand they are significantly backed up, but they have yet to provide me any quotes or offered out a time to have the work done. In a recent email, they gave me a rough quote estimate of 400-800 USD to replace the heater hoses.

The big fix for me here is the heater hoses as I can do the rotors myself and the wheel bearings, I can find someone locally to accommodate that work. I have reached out to several other local mechanics, and I had one-mechanic that has reached out and said they could do the job, but that isn't until mid-November. In short, has anyone had experience replacing their heater hoses? It seems like a pretty straightforward job, and the hoses appear to be very accessible. At least from an untrained eye.

Sadly, this job keeps me from using my van, and it is driving me nuts as I am willing to pay, but even then, the work is over one + month out. I am pretty green mechanically. I will continue reaching out to local diesel mechanics to see if someone can help sooner rather then later. But any insight is much appreciated.

Cheers

Hi,

Depending on the van configuration there could be two heaters in van. One would be the traditional heater working through dashboard and other one is mid-mounted for heating saloon.

Are you trying to replace hoses for both heaters?

On other point would be... if heater hoses are no good, what makes you think that other cooling system hoses are good? Have other hoses been replaced and only heater hoses have not?

The images on toyodiy are gone but the info is still there at jp-carparts.com.

This shows some of the hoses to the rear heater.  I can see why it might be $800 if these had to be replaced but I've never heard of it being necessary.  They may take hot water through them but are isolated from engine heat completely!

http://jp-carparts.com/toyota/partlist.php?maker=toyota&type=711140&cartype=34&fig=8716

Rear heater loop is part of entire cooling system. So it is subject to same pressures as rest of the system. The hot coolant flow through the rear heater loop is activated by a manual valve adjustable via cable from rear heater console.

If hoses are degraded in rear heater loop, the rest of hoses, I suspect, are not any better.

I can not open the link with diagram as I am in Japan right now and jp-carparts blocks Japan IP addresses. If you could take a print screen of the schematics and post here, I can be more helpful.

Also on other note. Are you planning to replace wheel bearings on all 4 wheels?

I had all my coolant hoses replaced soon after picking up my van, even the short ones between the front grill and the back of the dash. Squeezing my upper radiator hose made a crunchy sound, a clear indicator it was time to be replaced. At the same time, the metal pipes that are part of the rear heater system that run between the front rear tires were rotting and starting to leak, so I had those replaced as well with rubber hoses. I would recommend going ahead and replacing those if you are getting your hoses replaced, as the metal there gets exposed to a lot of road spray, rocks, etc. Make sure they backflush the rear heater core as well, as those can silt up a bit over time.