Coolant pipe replacement on '06 Aveo?

[zchandran]

Finally ended my procrastination and got the coolant pipe replaced. Here are my notes for anyone who needs to do the same:

1 - disconnected battery
2 - removed the heater hose and reservoir hose from coolant pipe from top
3 - removed the radiator hose from front of coolant pipe
4 - jacked the car REALLY high and put on jackstands, this made made it easy to reach all the parts easily
5 - unplugged all the connectors in front of the bracket, and removed the two 12mm bolts at top of bracket and two 14mm bolts at bottom, and set bracket aside
6 - removed starter. Top bolt is a bit hard to get to, so I used an inspection camera to position a deepwell socket and extension on it
7 - removed two bolts holding coolant pipe to block. Very easy to reach those.
8 - used spring clamp tool to remove clamp holding S-shaped rubber hose at end of coolant pipe, from engine
9 - pulled coolant pipe out
10 -put new S-shaped rubber hose on new coolant pipe with Indian Head gasket sealant, and put it back onto the engine
11 - put back bolts holding coolant pipe to engine (easier to do this after connecting S-shaped hose)
12 - replaced starter. Top bolt a lot easier to line up than I thought, did it entirely by feel
13 - put bracket back in and reconnected all the unplugged stuff
14 - cut the new heater hose to put in a backflush T, then connected it to heater core and to coolant pipe
15 - connected reservoir hose to coolant pipe
16 - reconnected battery, filled up with flush compound and water, and cranked up

I would recommend taking tons of pictures of everything before getting started, mostly for peace of mind. I bought all the parts from GM Parts Direct except for the coolant pipe which they wanted $60 for, so I paid $20 for that on Amazon. You can do all this without an inspection camera, but you definitely want to have a spring clamp removal tool on hand.

That S-shaped short hose connecting the coolant pipe to the engine was in remarkably good shape after 14 years of driving. But I think it's a good idea to replace it at some point, since it's rubber.

Happy to answer any questions!