Blown transmission cooler line

[damien]

First i will say that this is already remedied so if this should be in a discussion thread please move it to the proper area.

*backstory*
My issue started while driving home from the long weekend at my cottage when my cooler line running from the outlet of the trans. popped a hole roughly 1 inch from the quick disconnect directly above the exhaust manifold , after noticing a couple rough shifts into passing gear while on cruise i got flagged down by a passing vehicle and told that i was smoking very bad (trans. fluid spraying onto my manifold) After this i decide my best course of action with the wife , two kids , and two dogs in the suv is to top up with the litre of fluid i keep in the truck for emergencies and limp to the gas station 4km's up the road. Of course all this on a sunday of a long weekend in a province that does not allow sunday shopping so no stores are open so i was all but screwed.

*the fix*
i was able to scrounge up some double walled 3/8" steel line a pipe cutter , bender , a couple liters of atf , and two compression fittings from a guy in the parking lot pulling a stock car trailer and "spliced" the line.
since i have zero experience with transmissions I am wondering if this is an adequate fix to leave in place or should i replace both lines immediately ? all input would be greatly appreciated on this subject since i have a road trip of roughly 2500km's coming up in the next month.

as a side note these are good materials to have on a long trail ride incase of such a mishap and seem to be holding fine with no leaks or slippage being felt

[Stoked]

I think you'll be ok. I bought my tb with the transmission lines only going to an aftermarket cooler held together with hose clamps. I redid the work so that it goes through the radiator, then through the aftermarket cooler, still using hose clamps. I've had no problems even under moderate wheeling. Look and see what the big guys around here say, but I think compression fittings are a step up from hose clamps

[damien]

Thanks for the reply , that is reassuring. i was hoping to have some input from some of the , lets call them "more experienced" members so i would feel a little more at ease.
i was able to track down a couple specs for the fittings being a max pressure of 400psi so i have no worries there although they have the max suitable temp listed as being 204 degrees Fahrenheit which does have me a little concerned since i have heard of a few people going over this temp on occasion while towing . Oh well hopefully one or two more will chime in with some opinions on this possibly even someone who has tried or seen something similar in the past

[Trail X]

Curious what size compression fittings worked... I'm going to be adding an aux cooler before my big trip and haven't yet 100% figured out how or where I'm going to tap into the line. I do think compression fittings are best, in my old car I had used the rubber hose and a clamp, and that thing dripped a bit. Did your compression fitting have a plastic sealing element? Otherwise I'm not sure why there would be that low of a temperature rating.

[damien]

i used a standard "3/8 o.d. union" just a straight 3/8 to 3/8 connector with no plastic sealing elment , just a plain brass ferrule , i will recheck the specs in the book at work tomorrow it may have said celsius and i am just mixing the two up.
I will try to get some pics uploaded to show how it turned out.


This is going to be a noob question, yes i have used search just in case and am prepared for the heckling but how do i upload pictures ? do i have to host them on another site such as photobucket and go from there ? I've tried to upload from my comp. but always get an error msg.

[Trail X]

If there's no plastic, I doubt you'll run into any issue at 204 F. Maybe has something to do with expansion rates?


As for pictures, your picture needs to be hosted online. Many people use photobucket, but there are many other alternatives.

From there, just place the image address between the [img] tags.

You can also attach images to your post if you scroll down to the "upload attachment" area of the post window.

[damien]

Pictures will be up later on , the wife has the camera in the truck at work.
as for the specs i guess i was just having a dumb dumb moment , the pressure was correct but the recommended high temp is listed as 504 degrees celsius so i don't think thier is any worries whatsoever using these fittings , plus they will be easy to disconnect and tie into if the need ever arises

[SomeOffPave]

*the fix*
i was able to scrounge up some double walled 3/8" steel line a pipe cutter , bender , a couple liters of atf , and two compression fittings from a guy in the parking lot pulling a stock car trailer and "spliced" the line.
I am wondering if this is an adequate fix to leave in place or should i replace both lines immediately ?

As a side note these are good materials to have on a long trail ride incase of such a mishap and seem to be holding fine with no leaks or slippage being felt

For maximum piece of mind I would 1) eyeball all the other lines very carefully. They are just as old and have seen just as much wear & tear as the line you spliced. Replace if in doubt. 2) Replace the spliced line with a new one and keep the repaired line as an emergency spare.

[Trail X]

Hey Gordon. I'm curious what material the compression fittings you used were made of. I've been looking around for the proper fittings to use for a trans cooler, and all I can find are brass fittings. I heard somewhere that the fittings should match the tube material - I assume our tubes are a steel of some sort (I guess they could be aluminum though). Did you use brass or steel fittings?

[damien]

Hello James, i forgot all about this thread i have to get some pictures .
As for the fittings i used regular brass compression fittings and as for the line i just used some 3/8 double wall steel line and haven't had any problems so far