Weepign trans lines at the radiator? Be careful!!!

Silver' · 07-03-2013, 02:28 AM

For years now (literally, years), I've been putting up with a slight weeping from the transmission lines at the radiator. No big deal, but I'm getting down to a short list of niggles now so it was starting to get my attention.

When I had the front bumper off recently to try and sort some 'sagging' issues out (oops, another thread I forgot to add) I was under the car and checked the trans lines again. The lower was fine but lo and behold the upper line was a tad loose so I nipped it up. Both lines had some rounding of the hex nut as though they'd been very tight in the past and someone had had trouble with them. I gave it a clean so that I could see if that had fixed the weeping, reassembled and didn't think about it again - until I had the front bumper under tray off last Friday night to swap the headlights over, and noted that it was more than weeping, it was now what I'd call a minor leak.

So I check the lines again and what do you know - the upper one is loose again!

So I tighten it up a much firmer this time, finish what I was doing, and then time start it and check it...all looks fine.

It was not fine so I clearly didn't check it very well.

By the time I got to Trafalgar for a wedding the next day, Steve's T1 was covered in an oil slick and my car is sitting in the groom's driveway smoking. Not good! It was by now literally dripping out of the upper line and in all I lost 3.5 litres of fluid over the day's 250km. By the time I got home it was slipping pretty badly when driving up through the gears and there was quite a mess in the driver's front wheel well, underneath the car and also most of the engine bay. Not to mention the whole rear of the car.

Lucky for me Steve's a hell of a nice guy or there could have been some of this happening

!

I'm also very glad that the smell didn't register with the bride (or she was too polite to express her concern!) and it didn't let the happy couple down when ferrying around between homes, the ceremony or the photo stop!

Being a (former) mechanic comes in handy some times, particularly when you don't have a spare car or bike, so off I go to my local Repco the next day to get some trans line and clamps to bypass the radiator and buy myself some time to sort out the problem. Turns out they didn't have any transmission hose in stock but lo and behold, they had an AU V8 radiator! So that comes home with me instead, along with some flush & coolant, and engine oil/filter to do a service as it's due. I need to do the diff oil too but they had nothing useful on the shelf.

Radiator out and I have no trouble finding spotting the problem...

It's even easier to see on the other side that they've both been over-tightened and tightening the pipe would only make the leak worse by pushing the centre further out of the fitting. The left one in the below pic was the lower and was barely weeping, but the right hand one is well and truly shagged.

One upside is that the radiator had a leak that I didn't know about but could clearly see when the fan's were removed.

And the new radiator (just over $200) has a 30mm thick core - 5mm thicker than the one fitted.

But the point of the post is to make others aware as it's presumably not that hard to break these fittings through over tightening.

Al.

speedzter · 07-03-2013, 09:51 AM

I find it intersting you drove 250km's knowing you had such a bad leak, and also that you put up with a leak for years in the first place .
And you were a mechanic who maybe should know better.

I'm guessing your were just in a tight spot on the day.

Silver' · 07-03-2013, 10:04 AM

Thanks for your interest, even if it was mostly in my incompetence

. I didn't know it was leaking until I was already there and couldn't let the bride down - my judgement was good as it got me home. It was barely weeping for the years before and the vehicle performed faultlessly in that time so no harm done until I started 'fixing' and even then it was really just poor timing that made it dramatic.

**Papa Smurf** · 07-03-2013, 10:04 AM

Most mechanics have the LEAST looked after cars.

Silver' · 07-03-2013, 10:09 AM

You maybe don't know many mechanics cars? hehe
It's true though, I wasn't really into anything more than basic servicing for years because I was well and truly over cars by the time I left the trade and was having the dealer service it while I put my energy into bikes instead. The T's pretty tidy now though.

speedzter · 07-03-2013, 12:19 PM

Didn't mean to bust your balls

Still good info' if anyone has a similar problem though !

mik · 07-03-2013, 01:42 PM

with regard to the radiator thing, that is a problem with modern cars i think, there`s so much crap around the engine bay and on the radiator, often beginning small problems go unnoticed until they become bigger problems.

Silver' · 07-03-2013, 02:49 PM

I forgot to post the pic showing how the new radiator is 5mm wider than the old one.

The A/C condensor on the front and the cooling fans on the rear both mount onto the radiator tanks rather than the wider core so fitment was identical.

The fan's are easy to remove so I'll have to whip them off every year or two to keep an eye on things...

lofty · 07-03-2013, 07:22 PM

Well thanks for the heads-up I guess.

I hope your oil slick doesn't cause any accidents, especially for motorcyclists.

Silver' · 07-03-2013, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lofty

Well thanks for the heads-up I guess.

I hope your oil slick doesn't cause any accidents, especially for motorcyclists.

So do I.

You make a very valid point. Whilst it didn't seem like I was doing the wrong thing as it's all highway and 3.5 litres spread across 250km's isn't really what I'd describe as a slick but I concede it was a selfish act yes.