Hey all, apologies if this info is posted somewhere but didn't turn anything up after searching so reaching out for any available intel.

2006 LR3 4.4L V8

Was driving down the road with the wife a couple weeks ago and a couple miles from home ended up blowing one of the coolant lines, specifically the plastic T junction on the upper radiator hose where the heater hose plugs in just behind the radiator. As I was disassembling the hoses, I pulled back on the hose running from the top of the radiator back to the expansion tank only to realize that the little tug broke the plastic nipple on the radiator. Seemed all the plastic fittings were failing which was confirmed after inspecting a few more. Quickly realized I would soon be replacing the whole system. To that end, ordered a new radiator and the full coolant replacement hose kit from AB.

I've got all the old hoses out and have already replaced the radiator and have it back in place. I am still waiting on the heater hose (was back ordered). The hose is: https://www.roverparts.com/belts-hos...es/PCH501094G/
As I was pulling out the old heater hose, the plastic T junction that joins the two heater hoses to the lower hose that runs to the bottom of the fire wall (feeds rear climate control) snapped leaving the broken plastic in the quick snap connector on the lower hose. Didn't think much of it as I figured I could simply order two new ones for replacement. Unfortunately, I cannot locate them anywhere. The quick snap connector I'm referring to is indicated as 18D434 in the attached diagram (there are two in the diagram on the left side, one on each of the two hoses). The same quick snap connector can also be seen in the link to the hose; it is on the left side of the image where the blue snaps can be seen. The only difference is the connector in the hose seen in the link is an elbow, whereas the ones I need to replace are straight. I reached out to the local LR shop and they've indicated "not a part I can get anymore....". The part number is indicated as JHH500020 in his email.

So, has anyone had this issue? Or anyone know where I may be able to source this connector? The car has 280k on it and still runs great, but guessing this is the last job I'll ever do on the coolant system. This has me wondering if I can just bypass the quick connect fitting and simply plug the male end of the T junction of the upper heater hose into the lower hose and clamp (would step up with a fitting if diameters are not the same)? Thoughts? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

 

I can not locate the part either. I am sure someone has some in a warehouse somewhere... probably some dark corner of the UK. With that said, yes you could simply get creative. They are just cooling hoses and not under high pressure. And those simply feed the rear HVAC. Which if you dont use, you could eliminate or maybe locate a "manifold" from a vehicle with no rear HVAC for a better fit.

 

I can't find anyone that has part# JHH500020 either. Does anyone know if there's a Ford version of this? Other manufacturers use similar parts but with yellow push buttons instead of blue. Kind of frustrating to have your vehicle out of commission due to a simple connector. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

I searched high and low for the fitting but couldn't find anything. After a week, I finally gave up and just picked up a standard heater hose connector and installed. Similar to:

Koehler 5/8in Heater Hose Connector Kit 3 Piece (autozone.com)

No quicks nap, but for me it's a non-issue given the mileage on the car and quite frankly, from what I've read most seem to fail in a similar manner after considerable mileage. If you go that route, make sure you check the hoses running to the rear climate control to ensure no pieces of the broken quick-snap fitting fell and remain in the tube. I had to extract a few larger pieces before buttoning things up. Best of luck...

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Yep, my backup plan was to use a 'standard' tee fitting or even try a brass pex tee to avoid using plastic. Was hoping to use the factory part to simplify. Oh well. I'll post my final solution. Much appreciated!