Everyone who owns a Jeep Commander knows that the Commander line is where Chrysler/Stelantis conducted experiments. The vast majority of said experiments were failures. Despite the great looks of the commander, they are plagued with annoying problems. The wonderful rear HVAC control for the third row seat sounded like a good idea at the time.
Mine still works, but almost everyone else has unhooked them and capped off the lines. Why? MBAs should never be allowed to make decisions. Not only did they run the lines inside of the cabin in a manner that makes them impossible to replace; they also used cheap shitty connectors.
These death grip plastic tees are single use only and usually 3/4 inch. You are going to shred the back of your hand doing this job. Tons of little zip ties and things left poking out in the impossibly cramped location will see to that. Not enough room to have gloves on.
Go to Garden Department First
The tool you need isn’t sold in auto parts stores.
You need pruning shears and not some North Korean knock-off store brand. Get Fiskars. When you are done with them you can wash them up and let someone you know who is into gardening have them.
The Problem
These cheap-ass plastic death grip connectors leak. Chrysler/Stelantis wanted to sell you the entire hose assembly. I kid you not, it’s all one piece when you look it up in the parts catalogs. You would have to disassemble the inside of the vehicle all the way to the back to fix this in the OEM approved manner. It’s just a cheap tee fitting! Absolutely no reason to spend $400+ on a hose assembly plus several days labor getting it installed.
Those cheap Doorman fittings I linked to are way better made than what got installed by the factory. In fact, O’Reilly auto parts has them cheap enough you can buy two of each size and just leave the ones you don’t need laying around your shop for some future problem with a different vehicle. Yes, many owners order brass tee fittings from Home Depot. I’m north of sixty. Previous owner of this Jeep did not take care of it. Underneath she has a bit of body cancer that I just painted over with rust converter. Did I save it? Don’t know. I do know that I should get another 200K out of this motor and I won’t put another in it.
I say that now . . . but . . . I’ve only owned two Jeeps in my long history of Jeeps that I didn’t put a motor in. One was brand new and the other was my Overland daily driver I sold to the neighbor so his daughter could drive something reliable.
Long story short, the Doorman tees will last the 200K I’m going to have this thing.
Before You Start
Go to Harbor Freight and get two of these.
One should be enough, but if you are doing this on a Sunday and the store is far away . . . I have bought many sets of hose clamps where my dad said “we don’t need those, just wasting money” only to have to buy another set next time I needed a clamp because we were out. You always find a use for a hose clamp.
Go to a big box (or local) hardware store and get a bottle of this.
I don’t care if it is recommended or not. By the time you get these el-cheapo fittings cut free your hand is all cut up. Last thing you want to do is fight old stiff hose. A little bit of super slick cable pulling lubricant will be your friend. Put it on the tee not in the hose so you minimize the amount getting into your coolant.
Buy bulk heater hose same place you get your tee fittings. I bought this and this. Didn’t take time to measure the hose diameter, but bought both. A six foot length is under $20, I live on a farm, heater hose always disappears, just like hose clamps and O-rings.
Buy Upper and Lower radiator hoses!
I don’t care how good they look or how new you think they are. You are going to have the antifreeze out of the engine. Auto parts stores have those hoses for around $20 each. You do not want to wipe out an engine because you were too cheap to replace a $20 hose when it was convenient.
Cut Very Close
Take a good look at the photo with the pruning shear on the hose. There is almost no extra hose going back to the firewall. You need to save every fraction of an inch you can. Before you cut take pictures and mark each hose. You have to cut one out to get to the other. Be certain to know which end came from where at the front of the engine because that is why you bought the new hose. I don’t care how good that hose looks. You replace this hose because the antifreeze has to be out of the motor to do it. Same reason you put new radiator hoses on at this time.
Some people insist on putting in a thermostat now. I bought one with a new housing from Advance Auto Parts, but didn’t put it in. In the 1980s, yeah, I never dropped antifreeze in an engine without putting a new thermostat in. It’s what you did.
Today, thermostats are made so cheap I will gladly hang onto an old one I know works because it is nothing to get three bad ones in a row from a parts store.
Have Patience
You do not get this done quick. Do not attempt to do it on a bitter cold day unless you have a really nice heated garage to work in. You want those hoses to be as flexible as possible.
