Transmission line replacement advice

[ERMiles]

I've got a steady drip coming out of the line that goes from the transmission to that "can" which is mounted on the right rear side of the block. There are two lines (in & out?) going to the "can" and the rearmost one is leaking near the connection to the can. The leak developed suddenly as I was pulling into my transmission mechanic's lot. My transmission mechanic didn't know what the "can" was - he thought it might be a cooler that used the engine coolant to supplement the other one.

I'm sure you guys know what it is and, if so, does anyone have experience with changing that line?



Sometimes I wonder if there's a TDR angel watching over us - I had been hauling horses all over the place in the weeks before and this event and a loose wheel just happened while at home chugging around town. It runs chills down my spine to think what might have happened if either of these problems had developed on the road.

 

[formula]

Smiles,

The "can" you mention is a heat exchanger. It uses the engine coolant to heat up the trans fluid when it's cold and cool it when it's hot. The trans fluid line connections to the cooler can become rusted and begin to leak. Not sure how difficult it would be to replace the fitting on the heat exchanger. Can you tell if it's leaking from within the flare fitting or from the body of the heat exchanger where the fitting threads in? Have you taken the line off recently to install a gauge, etc? Sometimes those flare fittings will be a bit fussy and require loosening and a re-tightening to seal properly. Don't need to crank it up real tight, just enough to seal.



Sean