1992 Buick Lesabre cooling system

JIMBO72

MEMBER
1992 BUICK LESABRE

Hi. My father-in-law's 1992 Buick LeSabre has a 3.8L engine in it, and has approximately 195,000 miles on it. Recently a cooling problem has popped up. He can't afford to get it fixed and I am not a mechanic but would like to help him. It seems to be a simple problem, really, but I need a little help.

The hose leading from the water pump to the head has a coupling that threads into the head. That coupling has broken and I do not know what that coupling is called or how exactly to replace it. It broke off in the threaded part of the coupling. Can you help?

1 Reply

CLY

MECHANIC
308 POSTS

That is called a coolant bypass nipple. The new one(if you get it from GM) will be made of metal and the one that is in there is plastic.(Witch is a good thing) I remove the alternator and then use a flat punch that is alittle bigger than the inside diameter of the broken nipple. I use a hammer and tap the punch into the broken nipple and then take vise-grips and turn the punch counter clock wise. Since the old nipple is made of plastic it usually comes right out. You may have turn it alittle then tap the punch back in and turn it some more til you get it out.

Hope this helps.

Cly