911 oil cooler line leak in Cleveland Ohio may need parts
 

I have been in Cleveland this past week visiting family and my upper oil cooler line on my 85 300TDT is dripping about a drip every 3 seconds at idle. It started as a very minor weep before I departed from FL last week and I fear my snugging of the line a couple days ago started a stronger leak. It's too much of a leak for me to comfortably drive almost 1,000 miles at highway speed.

The leak is predominately coming out at the back of the nut on the oil cooler line. I am using two wrenches, with one ground down for clearance on the oil cooler nipple. I cleaned and decreased both ends of the coupling and used 600 grit Emory to very carefully clean the chamfered/beveled mating edges. It almost seems as if I am running out of the thread. The coupling is snug and tight but still leaks. The oil cooler nipple front thread looks suspect and kind of chewed, very minor but not suspect.

I am going to try and find a 22x1.5 die to redress the oil cooler nipple threads and possibly find a new upper oil cooler line locally. I am in the Old Brooklyn area of Cleveland near Memphis and Fulton. If anyone has a spare upper cooler line and possibly an oil cooler if needed I would be greatly appreciative:)
I can be reached at nine oh four three five two six five three oh

Anyone know what size tap I would need to redress the threads inside the nut on the upper cooler line?

Any other suggestions....pipe dope, jb weld? I need to leave Cleveland ASAP to be back at work Tuesday morning.

High temp RTV maybe? Just as a temporary patch? If it's just a drip that might be okay...

quick update.....

ran a 22x1.5 die over the oil cooler nipple threads with an improvement of the threads but upon reassembly the leak is much worse, now a steady stream instead of a drip

no luck finding a new upper oil cooler line locally today

I also bought some permatex 1 minute set gasket in a tube

You could loop the oil cooler line(s) using constant tension hose clamps and a barbed fitting in a pinch. It would probably get you home.

here are some picsAttachment 113061Attachment 113062Attachment 113063Attachment 113064Attachment 113065

Plumbers tape?

can you explain this method or a pic of the clamps you mention....Thanks :)

Cut both rubber lines, buy a double ended barbed fitting (maybe a 90 degree fitting would work best given the OE bends in the hoses), slide hoses on the fitting and clamp each end with two constant tension clamps. constant tension hose clamps are available to NAPA.

Constant Tension Hose Clamps

I also might try a coating of 5 minute epoxy on both sides of the fitting before looping the hoses.

by looping the cooler I would be bypassing the oil cooler from functioning, correct? not sure if I want to drive 1000 miles without one in this heat

Sounds like it may be a combination of things:

1)Galled threads on the oil cooler itself.
2)Galled threads in the hose fitting.
3)Hyper-tightened hose fitting.

It is starting to sound as if the hose fitting has been over-tightened. (The nut portion of the fitting is no longer keeping the mating surfaces together.) If this occurs, the only solution may be replacement of both the cooler and hose fitting.

As Kerry suggested, the temporary solution may be bypasssing the cooler and cutting the lines off to accept a double-barbed fitting. If the upper hose fitting is damaged, you will be looking at replacement of the hose, regardless.

Is there someplace nearby that does custom hoses for hydraulics? They may be able to help if the bypass idea doesn't sound appealing. Temperature will be the big factor with this. Driving at night and cooler parts of the day may overcome that obstacle.

The Oil Cooler Hoses do not seal on the Threads. The Hose seals in the tapered ID of the Oil Cooler Nipple and the rounded Face of the part that attaches to the Hose.

On the surface it sounds like the Hose Fitting has a crack somewhere or something else is cracked like the Hose Nipple having a split in it.

In the pic the double ended arrow points to the sealing area.

The part in the sloppy circle shows scratches on the sealing area. Scratches on that surface or the Hose end surface can cause leaks.

It could be the Camera angle but does it look to you like the Nipple is flared out too much inside (also it needs to be round not oblong to seal)???
As if it was over tightened?

permatex seems to be holding well, drove about 20 miles around town with hills included....keeping my fingers crossed :). I coated the threads as well as a bead in the back of the retaining nut.



the[ATTACH]113Attachment 113070069[/ATTACH]

added some "survival" tape for good measure, about 10 overlapping layers that fuse together :). Attachment 113073