Ok, so the starter went out on my wife's 87 300D-T, it had been sounding sick for awhile, so while taking it off to deliver it to a starter rebuild shop in my area, I noticed the inside of the driver's tire and suspension was soaked with engine oil, I could see where it was wet behind the panel that encloses the oil cooler. So I began taking the oil cooler lines off at the oil filter housing, which actually made it a lot easier to get to the wiring on the starter anyway. I extracted the lines, and oil cooler as a unit because the lines wouldn't budge. I got the whole thing up on the workbench and began heating and trying to work the lines loose, using almost a whole can of Seafoam spray and WD-40 and PB Blaster, I tried it all. I finally got them off but in the process the threads on the cooler are messed up. I ordered the 'screwed nipples' from the dealer, they are supposed to be in tomorrow.

In the meanwhile, I went to 3 different shops that do hydraulic lines and they all have looked at the hose set like a monkey staring at a math problem and they tell me there is nothing that they can do. They want to make up an entire new hose with their own fittings and send me down the road, since they don't have the necessary fittings with a new crimp sleeve already attached there is nothing they can do. No one wants to even try to reuse the existing metal parts on either end.

I know I have read on this and other forums where it was no big deal, they just walked into a hydraulic hose shop and walked out with the rubber hoses replaced for less than $50.

Crap I worked at a NAPA store while in college, and we did hoses, it's not all that hard but no one will touch this deal.

Can anyone give me some ideas of what to do. I live near Des Moines, Iowa. I called a place in Kansas City that said they could probably do it, but that means shipping it there, waiting, blah, blah, blah.

Or am I just out $500 for a new line set.

Thanks