Very interesting. Thanks for mentioning that. Saw a guy do something out of the box. He used a 3/4" MPT tap and got a metal heater outlet from the parts store. Not sure how he routed the hose, but he definately thought outside the elbow box.

FWIW, I do tons of these and don't experience the issues you guys are... I'm wondering if that bad batch of elbows was sent to your areas.

I'm having the same problem with the Dorman kit #47065 elbows leaking on the last 4 cars. It most be the o-rings.

My $ is on the o rings, I know mine were in bad shape when I changed them, and they had only been on there a week if that, they almost looked like heat had melted them a little, but my engine never got above 185F
I put new Fel-PRO o rings on in place of those Dorman o rings, and I had no more leaking, forgot to mention my leak was small, nonetheless it was a leak.

I'm not sure why an aluminum elbow was never cast in place of the one we were stuck with, I'd much rather have aluminum given the fact over time the coolant can plasticize the elbow a bit, and heat effects it also, in some cases it will fall apart when removing it, mine did the first time I replaced it, I did get 133k miles out of it though, till I was forced to remove it when doing my LIM gaskets, so I guess it is ok as long as you do not try to remove it.

Mine leaked for awhile. When I purchased a new UIM gasket, it came with 2 o-rings. One for the vacuum booster line and one for the elbow. The elbow o-ring looked much different. Hasn't leaked since I installed the new o-ring.

This very same conversation is being carried on elsewhere as well, and an interesting point was brought about there:

Thought that was interesting.

I just looked at some Dorman elbows the were recently stockedat my nearby chain auto parts store . The elbow which the same diameter ends with 2 orange o-rings and had the 11300 on them )


The elbow on my car (1998 Oldsmobile 3. the elbow that has 2 different diameter ends . The larger end of the Dorman elbow has a purple o-ring . This compared equally with the leaking elbow I removed . The o-ring is not as thick as the o-ring from the original GM elbow .

I am not convinced that there has been anything done (ie facilitating at tighter fit in the LIM bore ) for the elbow on my car . I am back to getting an elbow from GM or getting a thicker o-ring from NAPA (most are BunaN) which hopefully is heat and antifreeze resistant.

Let us know if you find a working part. I went through 7 different elbows (3 different types), and warped every single one. I had one last about 3 months, but then it failed as well.

I eventually gave up and traded the car in on my truck, but I was convinced it was probably a warped LIM (since I had already tried replacing the tensioner). If there was something else going on it would be good to know for future reference (since I still have another 03' Bonneville sitting in storage).

second time in 4 months
I just had to change my 90 elbow in the Ultra. This was new when I installed it 4 months ago it is marked 11210 and both ends cracked all the way around in the o ring notch. It looked like the solid orange o ring formed to the walls and notch they aren't round anymore. I don't think it leaked but maybe it cracked the plastic? I see now 11300 is the latest one to use? get what you pay for.
I got a new 90 at the dealers 17 an change and using the black with orange coated o rings that came with it coated with Vaseline , wish I would of remembered to get the o ring for the tension bracket but I'm a man and I forget, old one isn't but 4 months old and is a black with orange coating and it was still round and looked like new so reusing it and will see if it leaks. Couple of heat cycles and no leaks yet.

10 week update. Its been about 5500 miles and ten weeks since I installed the Genuine GM coolant elbows. The coolant resevoir is still right on the mark, has not leaked a drop! I will never use the Dorman elbows again.

I've put over 10k miles on my car since doing my LIMs and haven't had a problem with the Dorman elbows.