I have a small coolant leak in my '91 240. I found out the source of the leak is the lower heater hose that comes out of the firewall and connects to a red pipe that leads to the water pump. Now I'm kinda stumped on how to go about removing this hose. I looked at where it goes into the firewall, but I've never worked on this before, so I don't know where it goes until it hits the heater core, so I'm afraid I'll pull it off and have coolant get all inside the car. So now I'm currently trying to pull the hose off the red pipe, but this connection is right behind the block, and I had a tough time taking the hose clamp off, now I can't get the hose itself off, its just in such an tight place. I'd cut it off, but i want to try and patch the hole before I have to buy a new hose, (Yes I know this is kinda irresponsible and I should replace it, but I don't have a lot of money to buy a new part, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. ) So if anyone can give me some pointers on how to pull the hose off the red pipe, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

drivers side footwell, remove the plastic panel on the side fo the center console, you'll likely see the two pipes poking through said firewall. one goes to the heater valve, the other is the return line from the heater core. the valve is right next to the gas pedal.

I don't know any way to patch a hose that would last. the coolant system is under several BAR of pressure when the engine is running on the hot side of normal, most any sort of patch is going to fail.

 

Here's my suggestion. It's probably too late to try to tighten the clamp on the leaking hose; as the rubber ages a seep can sometimes be corrected by tightening or adding another clamp. I would have replacements for both hoses before I would mess with them anymore.The top one is more accessible than the lower; when it is off it is easier to get to the lower one. All these hoses are stuck on pretty well after many years of use. It really is easiest to slice the hose lengthwise after loosening/removing the clamp. A combination of prying and peeling will take them off. Use a lubricant to put on the new ones along with new clamps. You don't want to put too much force on the heater core( the pipes that come out of the firewall are a part of the core and are brazed on). You wont get coolant inside the car or in the engine bay if you drain the radiator first.