i have had my dieselsite coolant system for almost 4 years now, guess i better check my cheap pressed aluminum tee also.

 

So switching to the brass Tee is like doing a mod on a mod. That's worth extra points.

 

That looks better than a bunch of cobbled up, threaded brass.

 

I changed mine to the brass PEX T the other day. Just drained some coolant from the radiator and nothing leaked out. The T looked fine after 10K miles, I just did it for peace of mind.

 

I posted a question to dieselsite about the T they supply with the kit. Their response to me was that this is not a problem.

Has anyone received a response different from the response I received?

-mike

 

I bet the failure rate is very very low and wont be a problem. After saying that, I would say there is a better fitting. Just go buy the brass Pex one that has been discussed. I think the Dieselsite kit is fine the way it is and could be made better with the Pex T-fitting. I would tend to beleive when they exhaust there current fittings thay go to a new fitting.

 

Ha Ha HA that's hilarious! Were they hoping the Jedi mind trick would work on you. 'Move along, nothing to see here, you wont have a problem.'

Look, they admitted to having had reports of failures (look back in this thread) and I think we can all agree that many people simply fix the problem on their own without contacting them for a replacement so the rate of failure is undoubtedly higher than their reports state. So they have a problem with the fitting they know about and haven't taken steps to fix it, instead they say that the failure rate is low and leave it at that. Now having said that, I would still recommend you get the kit but once you get the T-fitting simply drill and tap (I put the info in my first post here) and put in a brass barb. I didn't have a problem with mine until I did.

 

It is always nice to see the OEM come on and speak to the crowd, or should I say "mob" here, and express a willingness to address the issue.

IMHO, plastic components are grossly under-rated and misunderstood.

Not all plastic is the same --- and hence the problem that people cannot tell a good from a bad plastic part.

The fact is, look under the hood, and you find many critical cooling system parts made of.... plastic.

From the degas tank (nylon), to the rad to components like the rad cap, there are plastic connectors reliably used without much trouble for at least 10 years, and often much more.

The point is, these are plastic components that are carefully designed, and made with high QC standards and quality plastic resins.

The problem is, to an untrained eye (and those not equipped with testing and validation facilitates), a quality part is often indistinguishable from a look-a-like.

In fact, an identical part made with a slightly "off base" plastic resin, or just improperly molded even with the proper resins --- can fail prematurely.

The auto industry know this --- and those who are outside of the business will be astonished at how much work goes in managing suppliers to make what appear to be relatively simple plastic components --- let alone safety and mission critical parts like cooling system components.


The bottom line --- don't expect such quality when you buy plastic parts at "Joe's jobber".

You can get quality plastic parts easily if they are certified (with the proper stamp) for interior / exterior plumbing use --- as those parts are rigorously tested and validated.

No one wants to / can afford to risk an expensive plumbing failure --- as happened with plastic plumbing components in years past.

Like anything else --- your security comes from buying in high volume / specialized shops that sell to the trade mostly --- or from reputable retailers like Home Depot and Lowes.

But since we are taking a common plumbing part and using it for not its intended purpose (automotive) there is a certain amount of risk taking.

I have yet to meet someone who is prepared to go to the specialized suppliers of plastic automotive grade components and buy those parts themselves --- rather than to just show up at a Ford dealer parts counter.


If you are not prepared to do that, then quality metal parts (like PEX) that is vastly over-engineered for our application, may be your best bet.

It is commonly available, and moderate in price at retail.

That, of course, is a different story when it comes to an OEM who is trying to build a kit (e.g. Dieselite) to a price point.

Their 2 piece part probably cost less to make than PEX's one piece part, and for that --- a small price to pay is a very rare failure once they got past the initial run.

The reality is, a 2 piece part, however made, have a finite risk of coming apart --- whether it is press fit, or tapped / screwed in. A much better solution is a one piece cast / molded / part, given proper installation (and not a large amount of stress from the hoses).

However you put it, the 2 piece part, including the "tapped" fixes here, can and will occasionally fail --- whether from an improper press fit / tolerance or, alternatively, from stresses during or after installation. When you have as many expansion / contraction cycles as this part does, I feel a tad quesy about a home made part with a tapped threaded coupling.

What if these rare failures happened?

Problem is, to the person for whom the part failed, the "rare" event may not be so pleasant --- and with coolant all over the place and a vehicle out of operation, it is understandable that the person will not wait for the OEM to come with a fix, but come up with one with what is at hand.

Is it fair for the OEM to expect such a person to wait even 24 hours for a rush Fedex shipment of parts? Perhaps.... but when there are ready alternatives... and when you are dealing with a customer base that is by their nature, handy, technically inclined, and loves to wrench... maybe not.

In all fairness to Dieselite, now that this issue has been "ventilated", lets have everyone do an occasional inspection of the part --- e.g. at every oil change interval --- and see if there are any more problems out there.

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, lets take their word that the failure is very rare.

 

Where did the Plastic come from? Maybe you ment to quote someone else on that.

 

Yes, let me add his stuff...

Fella who did the DIY, etc.

Dieselite is a sponsor of this site --- and IMHO, they were responsive, honest and fair in their response.

To me, that is the mark of a quality vendor and a supplier that I would enjoy working with.

 

Bump for the new guy...

 

While actual product quality is of the utmost importance, sometimes customer perception makes a manufacturer take notice and make a change for that reason alone, which we did. We ordered the PEX tee that some spoke of and since it wasn’t even close to the right size (you would have to heat the hose to get it soft enough to install), we started manufacturing all of our coolant filter tees with threaded connections. It cost us a few bucks more, but not only will it eliminate any post like this again, it will surely make the customer feel more comfortable with the products we create.

All tees since about a week after I posted last on this thread are a threaded unit. While there have been very few problems thoughout the years, there have been none since the introduction of the new tee. For those with the older units, you can rest assure that in tens of thousands of tees built, we had very few that we had a problem with.

I’m more than happy to finally put all of this to rest.

Bob

]

 

That's great news, thanks for the update.

 

That's awesome. I'm glad you guys did that as it will undoubtedly save a lot of headaches and it's nice to see a company responding to issues as well.

 

Thats great news, I found this thread after ordering one this morning!