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Dang, I just ordered a set of the Dorman elbows from Rock Auto for a LIM gasket tear down. New GM o-rings with the new Dorman elbows?
Btw, what would be the part number for the GM o-rings? I know'd it was mentioned but no part #

so this seems to be a common problem, I dont see that I am losing coolant, but I want to aware of this if a problem ever arises, What should I be looking for?

If you notice it early, you will see coolant puddled underneath the elbows, and probably moisture on the elbows them selves. If you don't notice it early, you will find out when they start spewing coolant everywhere! If they seem dry, I would just do it next time you have the belt/ alt off, or if/ when you do LIM gaskets. but that's just me, some folks do it automatically when they buy these cars.

So I'm having my UIM and LIM done on the next week, and will be having the coolant elbow replaced. What is my best course of action? Try the new Dorman? GM? Any other?

GM.

are these the GM ones? 25537068 (rock auto)

irish91983 wrote:are these the GM ones? 25537068 (rock auto)

Here are the GM part numbers, descriptions, and prices from the invoice for my order of GM 3800 upper and lower coolant elbows:

24503423 PIPE ASM $8.80

12565082 PIPE 1 $2.72

I bought these from gmpartsgiant.com, and they hosed me for twelve bucks for UPS ground shipping.


Relative to the price of +/- four bucks for the Dorman kit with both elbows, (available at local auto parts stores) it looks like maybe I got price gouged... Until you consider how much longer the AC Delco O rings and elbows will last compared to the crappy Chinese O rings that come attached to the Dorman parts.

You could roll the dice with the known failure rate of these Dorman parts, and save $19. But how much is not having to re-do the same frustrating repair a month later worth to you? $23 ? Instead of $4 ?

They got us, and they know it...

Use black red RTV on o-rings for "insurance" Y/N ?

I also want to replace the black o-ring on the part of tensioner housing that goes into the water pump housing Doe anyone know the size and or part # ?

-Thanks

Gm o-rings for upper elbow: part # 25537068.
I use Permatex Water Pump Gasket Maker as that's the only thing that has worked as a sure seal w/GM o-rings.

Well I'll update my Dorman experience. My elbow was leaking again a few weeks ago. I sent a pissed off email to Dorman saying how I've had to replace this 3 times in past year and bitching about the costs. I recieved an email back

Sorry to hear about the issues you are having. We have updated and fixed the 47065 back in December 2011. The issue of these has not been going on for years that I know of. We were hearing issues with it off and on for a few months and it was a lot of cold climate areas.

We have changed the material that the oring is made of.

Could you please call me so I can discuss this with you?

Thank you

I gave him a call and I just asked if he could send me two new boxes of the elbows (to ensure I wasn't receiving old parts off the shelf) overnight so I could fix my car. Next day when I came home there was a box waiting for me with two packages of elbows.

I will see how these hold up I suppose......I'm happy they at least got back to me and sent me some new elbows

I just replaced the elbows for the 3rd time in 10 months, this time with GM OEM parts. The first and second time I had used Dorman's. The upper elbow had developed a very slight bend and the lower elbow' larger gasket was begining to disintergrate, i.e. flaking.

Picked up my parts at the local Chevy dealer. Parts man used to work at Pontiac and immediately recognized the part numbers and asked if it was for a 3800 series engine.

24503423 - $12.48 (Upper Elbow)
12565082 - $3.83 (Lower Elbow)

Total $16.31 with no shipping and handling. Hopefully I get more than 10 months from the OEM parts.

I just replaced mine too as the Dorman ones were leaking. When I got the ones from the dealer I noticed the o-rings were quite a bit larger on them.

We used the GM ones when we did my LIM about 6-7 weeks ago. So far so good. My brother had replaced 2-3 sets of dormans on his car and when we ordered my elbows I got him a set too of GM ones, I know he has them on there now but unsure what his experience has been - have not thought to ask him about it.