Changing rubber pipes to silicon

[franksm]

Hi folks

After bursting a water pipe (the small vertical rubber pipe between water-pump and thermostat housing) and see the price of a replacement from my MB dealer, I would rather spend the money replacing all the rubber pipes (as much as possible) with their silicon equivalent.

A "kit" isn't available from the likes of Samco, but they sell various sizes and shapes.

Does anyone know what i.d. (internal diameter) the various coolant pipes are on a w124 2.3 4-cyl ?

Cheers

Frank

 

[lackofgrip]

dont know the bore of the pipes mate but i would suggest taking them all off one at a time to measure them, its the only way to be sure.

 

[mattkh]

Hi

What is silicone. How do you tell the difference between a silicone pipe and a normal coolant hose.

 

[franksm]

Hi

What is silicone. How do you tell the difference between a silicone pipe and a normal coolant hose.

They generally look better quality than the rubber equivalent, are heavier, and you can view the different ply if you look at a cross-section. Silicon pipes are usually a bit more bling too More expensive than rubber, but they're pretty much immune to heat, oil, dirt, etc. Silicon is probably overkill but I only want to replace these pipes once.

Here's where I am getting mine:

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/products/ProductList.asp?cls=MSPORT&grp=MP204&pgrp=M033&tlgrp=MS004

The only one I can't get is the bottom hose of the rad, as the MB item splits into two at a 'tee'. Can't seem to find a tee to plumb in.

I'm taking the pipes off my car right now to measure them as lackofgrip suggests and... I'm glad I am replacing them - the rad top hose looks okay on the outside, but has a soft section where the rubber seems to be breaking down. The pipe that goes from the heater-matrix (via a valve of some sort) to the engine again looks fine, but is cracked underneath the hoseclamp, so that wouldn't have lasted out much longer.

My car has 103,000 miles on it (not sure if that's genuine though as it didn't come with FSH); my other car, an MX5, needed one new rad hose at 100,000 miles - but only because oil had been dripped/spraying onto it.