GMCTD... Is this what you had in mind for fixing my leaky oil cooler lines?

http://image22.webshots.com/23/1/93/20/228219320flDcfA_ph.jpg

Looks good, dude - no more leaks.

Works fine - lasts a long time. ;)

Great. I'll give a whirl after work. Got a couple other things I gotta get done under the hood anyways. Thanks!

You will note when you remove the crimp that there are a series of shallow square groves cut into the Al. tube. There is enough lenght to this area on the Al. tube to install 2 clamps and I would consider that as a minimum and make sure you use the best clamps you can find as I have had clamps leak on the oil lines over time on my old 6.2.
It would be great if you could find a way to roll a bead on the tubes from the inside to create a pull off stop at the end of the tube. There is a tool to do this but I could never locate one so I install Greg's premade oil lines.

Any tips on how you remove the excess aluminum? Looks like a great (cheap!!) way to revamp existing lines.

You will note when you remove the crimp that there are a series of shallow square groves cut into the Al. tube. There is enough lenght to this area on the Al. tube to install 2 clamps and I would consider that as a minimum and make sure you use the best clamps you can find as I have had clamps leak on the oil lines over time on my old 6.2.
It would be great if you could find a way to roll a bead on the tubes from the inside to create a pull off stop at the end of the tube. There is a tool to do this but I could never locate one so I install Greg's premade oil lines.Thanks for the tip Howie. I'll put two clamps on each connection if possible.:D

Any tips on how you remove the excess aluminum? Looks like a great (cheap!!) way to revamp existing lines.I'm gonna try and just file/saw it off with a hack saw blade and a side-cutters. Hoping to get the two rubber-to-aluminum connections nearest the cooler replaced without having to remove/disconnect the lines.

Next spring when I'm feeling all gung-ho and ready to tackle the world, I'll pull the lines completely off the truck and get the back two if these front two hold up well over the winter.

Dremel tool and careful cutting

If you can make 2 cut with a dremel, about 180 degrees apart, the length of the crimping collar you will be able to split the collar and remove it. Note the crimping collar does not include the first 1/8 in. of Al. at the hose end. That part is a swedge of the pipe itself.
As mentioned above be extreamly careful and try to cut just deep enough to allow you to split the collar with a screw driver rather than cutting all the way through till the collar falls off.

I did better than a dremel tool could. I used a hand file around the bottomside of the aluminum cup the hose goes into, and filed it down till you could just see rubber (the aluminum files quite easily). Then a little needlenose action, peeling away the aluminum back to the filed area. That was enough to clean the thing right off. Looks like brand new, and didn't put a scratch on the rubber line.

Only did the one line that was leaking. Never took it off the truck. I held it steady with one hand while filing/needlenosing with the other while it was still all connected to the motor and the cooler. Will get the other line done tomorrow night, and then I'll drive it a week with the skid plate off so I can take a peek every once in a while and make sure they're not leaking.

Good mod. It's easy, cheap, and it eliminates a big annoyance on these trucks.

Now the only thing it doesn't fix is the clip connect fittings on the side of the block, those have failed on several causing catostrophic engine problems due to loss of oil in a quick hurry. For real peace of mind start saving for a good set of lines, that uses real plumbing connections.

How do they adapt "real plumbing fittings" to the quick connections to the block?

the clip fittings are threaded on one end and clip tuther remove the clip adapter and real fittings metric IIRC thread into place, check with Greg been a while since I installed mine I don't remember zactly

Ok let's see if i UNDERSTAND WHAT I just read. The fitting for the oil cooler going to the block are the same design as the those highly dependable never break at the wrong time heater hose fittings with the plastic locking insert ?
YUCK how did that one slip by the "that's as good as we can do" test for the designers.

Similar design, metal clips and yes have been known to fail and all you get from GM is OOOPs, I understand GMs attempt it's close quarters in that area little room for 90 deg conventional adapters especially on 4x4 I had to modify with a grinder the 90 deg oil filt adapter to get clearance to allow real fittings to go in there. Probaly some cost component in decision for why they went with the clip fitting also, a good enough design and calculated rate of potentail fail low enough to satisfy their statistical model, I just did not want to be in that pool of statistical probability.

I suspect that those that have failed the retainer clip wire rusted and gave way which allows hose to blow out side of the block, I replaced them as preventative measure when I started getting oil weepage from crimps on cooler fittings end.

Took every special tool I could come up with to make adapters on block to torque up, crows foot set worked best due to cramped space of 4x4 also a sequence to install which I now forget, IIRC I had to install/remove the lower fitting twice to have enough room to swing wrench/crow foot to install upper fitting and hose. Complicating the install was the IC as result I could not remove old hoses intact, I cut and junked mine, Greg www.lubespecalist.com (http://www.lubespecalist.com/) is where I got my kit maybe his new kit with the braided metal hoses will install easier.

I need to do this fix. What I know: Oil cooler lines were replaced 56k miles ago (truck now at 149k miles). fittings at both ends are nice and dry and look to be in excellent condition.

Questions: 1) the fittings at the block are strange-looking, like the tubes extend beyond the fittings - anybody have a pic? I'll try to post one tomorrow. 2) is it relatively easy to do the bandaid job without disconnecting the fittings at the cooler? 3) i take it the cooler drains at this point, correct? If so, I will perform this during my next (ie, within a week) oil change. Thanks!

I just repaired my second oil cooler line leak. So far both leaks have come from the metal part of the line wearing a hole in itself from rubbing something underhood.

The later models (96+?) routed closer to the engine and were less prone to wear through. These tend to leak when the aluminum crimp relaxes and the hose deteriorates underneath. I took a new set of lines and had the aluminum crimps cut off, and new hose with steel crimps done and they worked excellent.

Now DSG has just released their new oil cooler and line kit eliminatin a lot of the BS associated with these systems. It's not cheap at $525, but VERY well built as I am told. Just landed a bunch of them. Eric should be installing one with a new long block for a customer soon...

Can the lines be removed seperately, or does the whole filter adapter have to come off?

The later models (96+?) routed closer to the engine and were less prone to wear through....
This last one was the '96 and it wore through right along side the block. I cut the line with a pipe cutter and fixed it with a ferrel and threaded cap.

:cool: I'd like braided steel cables but for a lot less than $500 I can order the parts from summit or similiar and rig up my own.

I am still looking for a set of old oil lines and fittings that connect to the block if anyone has any they want to part with cheap.

I am still looking for a set of old oil lines and fittings that connect to the block if anyone has any they want to part with cheap.
Bowtie,

I have a set of the block fittings for a 97 1/2" npt.

I'll sell them for cheap.

carey dot weber at us dot army dot mil (no spaces)

Carey

Hey JK
Are the openings in the block the same size from 95 to 97 ?
Do you know the thread sizes my 95 uses?

I believe that all non spray blocks were 3/8" NPT and the spray blocks were 1/2" NPT.

Which year were the spray blocks?

97-ish +

Anyway to identify spray vs. non-spray from the outside?

I did mine on my 97 ...

Took them to the local hyd hose/fitting shop which happens to be the headquarters of a major distributer here... Goodall Rubber

They reused the aluminum parts and crimped on stainless braided hose.

They only charged me $20. It was a steal.

You can see where the original lines leaked all over the crossmember.

I talked to a hydrolic hose service here and they offered the same thing, with reusing the aluminum and crimping in braided steel lines. I might have to take them up on it if they come close to $20.

QM,
let me know more bout how this goes for you.

The whole problem to start with is the aluminum lines. You cannot crimp anything on it and expect it to last. Its just to soft and will not hold up. The rubber hose was not good. Crimping on something like hoot did is better but it will still leak over time

Greg

I wasn't careful enough with my dremel, so you have what you see here.:( The clips were hard enough to remove on this cramped 4x4, I would not want to have to thread oil fittings into the block without further disassembling the truck.

I bought new OE hoses, what the heck, if I can get 60k miles out of them its not too bad. Not like I won't be wrenching in and around the engine over the next 60k miles . . .

FWIW my hoses were leaking steadily on both sides of the rubber hose-to-aluminum tube interface.

Pics of close quarters but the important item is the beer fridge.

Reopening thread, as I said earlier after inactivity threads automatically lock themselves, if you guys see a thread of interest locked down and you want to add comment or reopen, then shoot me or one of the other mods a PM and we can reopen it for you, unless it was closed for argumentative nature of the thread.

I got a PM from a member to reopen this thread with also question about what about putting a clamp over the crimp, here are my thoughts any others:

I doubt you will be able to make the OE crimp any tighter even with a HD clamp probably not enough compression force to do anything, my concern however would be if you egg shape the crimp then make it worse or crack the aluminum and it completely fail.

Best soultion would be to replace with stainless replacement hose and threaded block fittings, interim fix cut back the OE crimps and put direct compression hose to inner tube, as detailed earlier.