Replacing '99 T&C Van 3.8L Coolant Hoses

Re-posting since I've seen no replies. I'm hoping that someone has replaced the heater hoses on a '99 3.8L T&C and can provide some ideas. Thanks.

Since my 1999 Town & Country Van is now approaching 9 years in age and is otherwise running beautifully (86K miles), I decided today to attempt a full replacement of all of the rubber coolant hoses while doing my regular bi-annual flush and fill. To be clear, this vehicle is a 3.8L engine and came equipped from the factory with the auxiliary rear heater/AC unit.

I managed to replace the upper and lower radiator hoses and the 4 separate

Specifically, I need answers to the following 4 questions:

1. How do I access the small section of what appears to be standard heater hose and serving as a bypass from the front of the water pump? I can't figure out how to get in there to release the spring hose clamp at the bottom since it is so buried and there is no room to use pliers or channel locks. Is there a special tool or must something (what exactly, the oil filter and oil sender appear to be clearly in the way if accessing from below) be removed first?

1. There is another small molded bypass hose that comes out of the back of the water pump housing assembly and runs left over the oil filter to another inlet tube. I was able to get this hose off easily enough once the oil filter was removed, but neither NAPA's or CarQuest's parts computers show any replacement molded hose part number. (I brought it in and it did not match up to any of the 3 molded hose part numbers they listed for this application.) Does anyone know a Gates or other part number for this molded hose or is it orderable from the Chrysler dealer only?

2. There is another very small (90 degree bend and about 7" total length) molded bypass hose to the left side of the oil filter down near the middle of the engine. How does one get access to the spring hose clamp up near the exhaust manifold since there does not appear to be enough room to get at it?

1. There are two other molded rubber heater core hoses at the driver side firewall. These are located behind the intake manifold near the brake master cylinder and the EGR. There is also another slightly longer section of 5/8" heater hose that also seems to terminate to a tube near the same place that the other two molded hoses from the firewall run to. I've removed the air filter box and the intake to the throttle body, but still can't seem to get enough access. Does something else need to come off to get access to these spring hose clamps or is there a special tool of some sort that can be used?

Maybe I'm just getting too old to do this, but I've never encountered this level of difficulty in any other vehicle that I've replaced the coolant hoses on before. (I've done many over the years, including an earlier vintage Chrysler minivan and have always had a few challenges to contend with, but nothing like what I am seeing here on this vintage of van.)

At this point, I'd really appreciate some advice before attempting replacing the above hoses one more time. If this fails, then I'll need to admit defeat and take it to the dealer to finish the job. Are there any special hose clamp tools that can reach into these difficult locations?

Thanks in advance for all recommendations/advice.

Bob

I am answering my own questions for the benefit of anyone else replacing coolant hoses on a 3.8L T&C minivan equipped with the rear auxiliary heater. (Mine is a 1999, but I assume other years are the same).

Answers:

1. The hose that runs from the water pump to the oil cooler in the front of the engine is Mopar #4677371 and listed out at . It was a special order item at my local dealer so will take two days to obtain.

2. Chrysler's solution to this problem is to sell an entire assembly that consists of the pre-bent and painted tubes that connect from the engine compartment to the rear auxiliary lines located under the passenger compartment. These also have the two pre-molded heater core hoses, the 5/8" flexible hose that connects to the tube from the engine, and all the spring hose clamps. The only problem here is the list price is 0!

I may try to remove the existing assembly, remove the rubber hoses, re-use the old tubes and replace the hoses with the ones I purchased from NAPA which appear to be a good match. If not, then I will go ahead and use the complete assembly.

I hope that this information is useful to others. As I noted earlier, I've done a lot of hose replacements, but never encountered the level of difficulty and problems that I have on this van. I'll be happy to be done with this and know the cooling system is hopefully in good shape till we sell the vehicle some years down the road.

Bob