CLUNKBUCKET

Everything but the same old cars

Rescue Tape saves Heater Hose

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rescue_tape4Miracle liquids and magic pastes are usually sources of great skepticism for us here at Clunkbucket. While there are some things that might work, there are a lot more that don’t. When the folks from Rescue Tape handed us a roll of this promising tape-like stuff at the big SEMA Show last year, we already had a test for it in mind. One of heater bypass hoses in the Starlet had developed a small (and slow) coolant leak after twenty plus years of occasional contact with a chunk of under hood California smog equipment. We suspect the original bit of foam armor that protected the heater bypass hose from contact with the smog elbow disintegrated a few Presidents ago. This Rescue Tape is a self-fusing silicone material that forms a permanent water and air tight seal to resist everything save for an atomic bomb attack. A few wraps around the old hose and all would be well. Did it work? Why yes. It did.

Step-by-Step Rescue Tape Heater Hose Repair

As the Starlet had a fully-laden trip to Los Angeles in its near future, we decided to give the Rescue Tape a few times around the old heater hose for repairs and testing. After weeks of local use and subsequent 500-mile journey from the bay area to Los Angeles, the Rescue Tape repair is holding leak free. A bonus is that the tape is functioning as a replacement layer of plastic armor to prevent the the reed-burp-whatever-valve smog elbow making another hole in the heater hose. The heater works swell too. We can’t say is this stuff will work for every repair, but keeping a roll in the glove box of a twenty something year old Starlet probably a good idea.

Disclosure: Rescue Tape provided the roll of tape shown here to Clunkbucket. For more information or suggested uses head over to Rescue Tape.

Comments

  1. Brian DR1665 says

    That stuff really works? I’ve had my eye on a six-pack of that stuff in the Duluth Trading Company catalog for months. 60ft in 4 colors for $30 seems like a deal, but only if it works.

    Thanks for the random, yet entirely useful, product review, Mike. I’m gonna get some of this stuff for the rally car. Could come in useful miles from home in the Arizona desert…

  3. Mike the Dog says

    Wow, what a fascinating product! I may have to order a couple of rolls to experiment with. Thanks, Mike!

  5. Phoebe says

    I have the same stuff in black, called “Extreme Tape” or “Xtreme Tape” from Harbor Freight. It works great. I mostly use it to cover wiring harnesses. It’s very professional-looking and nice and flexible.