Tranny line Question

So there I am tonight, changing out some spark plugs, slapping in a new cap and rotor, nothing too difficult right? So I fire up the jeep when I am finished to inspect my handywork and notice a steady stream of tranny oil coming from beneath the radiator. Well, after pulling my aux. fan, I realized that I placed the line just a little too close to the fan when I changed my radiator and the edge of the aux. fan wore through the line. After two trips to the store to get the righ hoses I realize that the last person to work on my tranny before I bought the Jeep replaced all of the quick connects with worm-drive hose clamps. Is this OK? Do I need to go find new quick connects? Whoever was working on the rig before somehow managed to get the 5/8 hoses over the little ribs on the hard lines meant for the fittings. I tried to do this and couldn't get them over, even after splitting the line a little at the end as it looks like the other person did. Right now I just have the lower line hose-clamped in place. Should I be worried? It isn't leaking now, but I'd rather not have any surprises down the road. Thanks for any help

Just put 2 hose clamps on it. That is how I put my axu. cooler in after 10 months, no leaks. HTH.

2 hose clamps will do it... but only 1 should be fine... but as far as i know the only quick-connect fittings under the hood are for the fuel lines... are you talking about an aux cooler or just the lines that go into the radiator? the fitting with ribs on it sounds like a fitting designed for a rubber hose to be put on, not a quick connect. the stock lines are supposed to be steel lines that thread into the radiator... my guess is in the past someone replaced the radiator and trashed the fittings and just cut the ends and used rubber line to go from the original line to the radiator with the new fittting. this set up (if its what you have) will work just fine as long as the fitings and lines are all correct for eachother. if you need to split the hose to fit over the end of it its the wrong size fitting. go to the parts shop and get some new hose that is safe for ATF, pull out a fitting to match up the correct thread size and a few new hose clamps..... sounds like someone screwed up and half-assed it back together and never cared to go back and do it right....
mike

sidriptide said:

2 hose clamps will do it... but only 1 should be fine... but as far as i know the only quick-connect fittings under the hood are for the fuel lines...

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There are quick-connect fittings on the transmission cooler lines too. Or at least there are supposed to be. They're staggered so that you can't accidentally connect the wrong one. It's likely that someone broke the fittings taking them off before, and just bypassed them. There isn't a huge amount of pressure on the lines, so I would guess that anything that doesn't leak should be fine.

When I replaced my radiator with a 3 core GDI, the lower transmission fitting was a hair too big for the quick connect fitting to work. So I cut it off and went with hose clamps. Maybe that's what happened to yours. No biggie.

now i gotta go out and see if i have disconnects on my trany lines...... never sen them, but never looked for em either... they dont leak they never made it onto my priority list yet... learn something new every time i'm here...
mike

Yeah, I know I had a least one disconect because it was leaking when I went and had my tranny serviced. Looks like they just replaced it with a hose clamp. I'll have to call my friend at the dealership to find out what the deal is with the disconnects.

The quick disconnects have a replaceable plastic fitting that slides over the tube from the radiator and into the end of the quick disconnect. They are available on the "help" rack at Autozone, Pep Boys, etc. You might try that first to see if it will stop leaking. My new tube from the radiator was a tad too big around, so I cut it off and used hose clamps (see previous post).

Yea, they are quick disconnects, and I put on an OEM cooler on my 89 to keep them because I had just replace the cooling lines. Guess what? The OEM cooler rubber hoses have a quick connect on one end and -you guessed it- a worm gear hose clamp on the other end that stabs onto the cooler. I don't think it matters too much. I just like it neat and tidy under the hood.

I broke the diconnects while trying to take them off. they are a major PITA. a local auto parts store most likly will have them for you to repolace, as long as the metal tube still has that little rib in front of it you can go back to the OEM disconnects. at least thats what I did.