[cooljess76]

There's plenty of info on this as this part is notorious for breaking. It's most commonly referred to as the plastic "Y" connector/fitting. Search the knowledge base section for "cooling system rebuild" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

It's not necessary to remove the intake manifold to access this part. You'll get better accessability by removing the valve cover. The "Y" fitting is located on the back of the cylinder head between the engine and the firewall. Removing the valve cover not only gains you better access to the "Y" fitting, but it also gives you the opportunity to replace the valve cover gasket, spark plug seals and clean out the CCV orifice on the left rear corner of the valve cover.

Some people remove the intake manifold to access the "octopus" fitting on the side of the engine block. Totally different part, totally different location. I don't recommend EVER removing the intake manifold. Most people who do this end up causing more problems because they can't figure out where stuff goes when they try to put everything back together. Instead, I recommend removing the alternator and oil filter housing to access the octopus fitting. Chances are, the oil filter housing is leaking anyway(another common problem with these cars), so this is a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone(access octopus fitting & fix leaking oil filter housing).

Whenever you "open the coolant loop"(replace a cooling system part), it's VERY IMPORTANT to bleed the system of air. There's a writeup in the knowledge base section on "How to properly bleed the cooling system". This process often takes several attempts to accomplish. This, combined with the fact that most if not all of your other cooling system parts are about the same age and have the same wear, makes it a good idea to replace everything at once. If the plastic connector on the back of your engine broke, the one on the side of the engine is probably getting ready to break too. Then the radiator, then the thermostat, then the water pump etc. Instead of draining, filling and bleeding the system over and over and over and over again, just replace everything at once and call it done.

And never drive a car that overheats. That's something a stupid teenage girl would do. For every second that your engine goes above normal operating temperature, you run a substantial risk of head gasket failure and a warped or cracked head. The temp needle doesn't even have to get to the red for a head gasket to fail. At the very least, you could pretty much count on the fact that you've fatigued the gasket and significantly shortened it's service life. So unless you have 2 grand burning a hole in your pocket, don't ever let the needle go past 12 o'clock.