So, I open the hood and sure enough, my 04 Discovery was leaking antifreeze through the plastic T. Took the hose clamps and hoses off to give her a check, and the plastic T had been crushed by the clamps and I could see most of the plastic was dry-rotted where she busted. I'd hate to buy plastic components as I can foresee running into similar problems later on, and can get my hands on stainless steel T tubing, and have the experience to build something more reliable... Can anyone give any opinions?

 

People have remade this part with plumbing parts as well. IMHO the fitting of a bleeder that can take a piece of clear plastic hose into a bucket would be a plus, as it would allow you to bleed and see a string of bubbles coming out, instead of cutting off the bleed process at the first burp.

 

That might be one of those million dollar engineering ideas....or at least get most of us to buy it.

 

Thank you!

 

Why not just tap the hole instead of welding on a nut? Drill a 3/8" hole, use a 3/8" tap, and put an O-ring on a short 3/8" cap screw. Maybe I'll try this.

 

If you build it.. they will come.

I have tried to find someone to build one out of brass for the last 2 years. None of the machine shops I know want to put the time in. Brass, Stainless Steel, Black Iron. Really I do not care, make it, and make it quality and, well... as I said up top, they will come.

 

Sounds like a trip to the plumbing distributor. But counter sales to the general public vary by distributor, some have high minimums.

 

Well, its not 1 1/2" tubing, so I had to order 1". Will post pics when done!

 

The hoses are 1 1/4" or 32 mm. Make sure you get the correct size.

You can tap the body for the bleeder without any problems. There isn't much pressure in a cooling system, so the tee won't fail. Someone just posted a picture of teir setup. They had fitted a little valve for the bleeder but it was too tall to fit under the hood. I think the machine srew and o-ring idea is the best approach

 

What would people pay ? might be worth braking out the tig welder peanut grinder & chop saw.