Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) A/T cooler line replacement ?s

[Clinton]

Well, for the first time in 99,850 miles my truck let me down and stranded me this weekend. Luckily, it happened on Thursday night and I was able to chase parts on Friday and do the repair on Saturday morning. My pressure line to the oil-to-water cooler (heat exchanger) blew at the palstic quick-connect. That line has now been replaced and I have to get a fitting to replace the end at the heat exchanger. They sold me the flexible piece, but I need a two ended male fitting to connect to the exchanger.



How many quick connects are there? I count two at the oil-to-water cooler, two at the transmission case, and two up front before the oil-to-air cooler. Which ones are failure prone besides the one that blew on me? I went ahead and bought the return line to trans. from the front oil-to-air cooler because they had it in stock. That'll leave the return line fitting on the heat exchanger and the two up front. Can you even get rid of the two up front? Does replacing the return fitting on the heat exchanger require a new line?



This happened on a steep gravel road and I caught it right away and there doesn't seem to be any internal damage. I turned 100k on my way home Saturday. Let me know about those fittings. Thanks.

 

[csutton7]

On my 99 the lines to the oil to air cooler are just hose clamped on at the cooler--double check them as one of mine blew off as it was loose--chris

 

[Clinton]

Okay, after two trips to the dealer I think I have everything I need in hand to replace all the quick connects possible. New line out of heat exchanger, new return line from aux. cooler up front and fittings. That'll leave the two quick connects up front on the hoses that go in and out of the aux. cooler. What's the thinking on those two? Will the older quick connects connect to the new lines? Those two are pretty expensive for what you get and they'd still be quick connects.

 

[Dieselnerd]

These are all the required parts for the conversion in case you missed one. Prices may be outdated since I compiled this list several years ago.



Quantity Part Number Description Each Price

2 CH52028764AA Trans Fitting 23. 80 47. 60

2 CH00118752 Eng. Cooler Fitting 3. 01 6. 02

1 CH05011244AA Tube, Out, W/temp port 91. 85 91. 85

1 CH04798875AB Hose, Aux Cooler 70. 98 70. 98

1 CH04798876AB Hose, Aux Cooler 77. 66 77. 66

1 CH52028673 Tube, Return to Trans 22. 13 22. 13

1 CH52028674 Tube, Eng. cooler to Aux 28. 39 28. 39



Total 344. 63

 

[BKadgihn]

thinking of best option myself. pressure line fitting hemhorraging ATF..... any thoughts out there about other than Dodge parts replacement? are the current Dodge connectors still plastic or are they better? thanks







94 with 203K... stock at the moment

 

[starring]

While you are looking at your cooler lines check where they go by the oil pan on the engine. Last year I blew both lines where they are held to the engine by a clip. You may want to look at this while you are down there.

 

[AWray]

I also had the pressure line from the trans to the heat exchanger blow. I think it was caused by a piece of TC lockup clutch material caught in the line somewhere as I still had to replace the trans after I fixed the line. I bought an ATS trans and TC to replace the POS stocker. In order for ATS to activate the warranty, I had to replace both the pressure line from the trans to the heat exchanger and from the oil to air cooler to the trans. I replaced the trans to exchanger line myself with parts from D/C. The parts appear to be top notch. The assembly uses metal hydraulic-type fittings. The oil to air cooler line was replaced by the shop that replaced my trans with D/C parts. It looks to be of the same quality. I bought the trans from Will @ ATS and asked explicitly if any other lines needed to be replaced. I was told that was all that was necessary. He said the lines that connect directly to the trans take the most vibration and abuse.



In retrospect, I cannot believe that Dodge used those type of quick connects. They look like baling wire and plastic in a 150+ degree environment. Oh well, learning the hard way, I guess. Too bad for me. Although my wallet is several thousands lighter as a result. Really sucks when a "new" truck has a major problem 300 miles after you buy it.



Hope this helps.



Aaron

 

[Jdimig]

i recently ran into this problem with the plastic fittings. i spent a good deal of time looking for this fitting not knowing at the time that a new style metal fitting had superceded this plastic connector. so i got up to dodge to get the parts, and i know the guys up there and they explain everything that i had to do. bascially cut off the plastic fitting and take the new metal fitting and it goes right on the end of the metal lines that are running back to the transmission. so i do that cut off the old fitting and double hose clamp it to the new fitting. problem solved. now i had a new dodge transmission cooler on the truck cause the old one was leaking, and i did not know that the new fittings were already with the cooler. so i wasted about 4 hours on my saturday tryin to get a part i had all along! oh well live and learn. im just glad i got it all figured out.