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If you’re thinking of changing your ATF cooler lines, think again.
I took it upon myself to change all the fluiid cooler lines to the radiator in my ‘97. Started with engine oil, easy enough, and haven’t leaked for months. The oil cooler lines were also inexpensive, especially compared to the ATF lines which were about $80 a piece and there’s 3 of them!
Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized how much of a pain it would be to navigate the old and new long, bending hoses in and out from under the truck without removing the Y-pipe with catalytic converters.
The smaller hose that goes to the top of the radiator was easy replacing. It’s the two going back to the tranny that had me extremely aggravated.
I decided to pinch the metal on both lines in order to clear the dreadfully tiny space between the transmission housing and the left cat. This is ill advised, I’m sure.
The line that returns cooled fluid from radiator to the top of the tranny was the worst of all to access, having to slide my hands way up between the floor and tranny to reach the connection. There’s about 4” of clearance to wrench. Not only that, the hose itself had only less than a 1/4” gap to move once disconnected. At first, when I thought I had turned the connection free, I’d actually only broken free the short adapter pipe the line connects to (why is this even necessary, Land Rover?!). When I tried removing it by just unscrewing the adapter, the bend of the line kept butting in to the truck floor!
So, then I had to manage to get TWO wrenches up there and break the adaptor off. It’s been a week, and that adaptor hole keeps weeping, and I can barely tightened it down any further.
The other end of this line has a small threaded hole that a sensor goes in to. This part leaked profusely after I installed the sensor and I ended up using an o’ring that wasn’t previously there.
The one I bought was from eurospare (UBP 101030) and though labeled “new” it was only the rubber hose that was new.
Not worth the money. Not worth the time.
For the average joe with no fancy tools to re-hose this old line, I’d recommend getting creative and using some kind of liquid rubber to seal your leaky lines and call it a day. Unless the metal lines are seriously corroded.
For the upper line to the transmission, I cut the existing steel tube at an easily accessible location (near the oil pan bracket) and cut the end off the new line to match, polished up the old line and used 1/2 inch Swagelok unions. Super solid and no leaks. Sounds like I made a good choice, but if I were to do it over, I probably would remove motor mounts to gain some space and replace the whole line. I think I bought my new sets from Roverparts.com (Atlantic British), nice and shiny. I think the temperature switches used soft metal (copper or aluminum) seals. Sorry for the pain, I feel your aggravation. Glad you got it back together. I do not regret the effort on my vehicles.
I had to remove the transmission line which connects to the side of the transmission on the side of the road after the hose blew out due to a crappy Chinese radiator.... The line can be maneuvered in/out without doing any bending or modifying. You have to remove all the support braces off the side of the oil pan. I have a massive skid plate which was harder to remove/install vs the actual line itself. 15/16 Open End wrench will fit up there and allow you to loosen the connector. It will take a while to remove via the 5mm at a time bite you get on the nut. Once you have it disconnected from the radiator, supports disconnected, temp sensor unplugged you bend that end down under the frame. Then once you disconnect the rear you will have to do a crazy push/pull job, but eventually it will drop down, rotate and basically fall out. Then you feed it out from the front. Re-install is the opposite of the removal.
For the upper line to the transmission, I cut the existing steel tube at an easily accessible location (near the oil pan bracket) and cut the end off the new line to match, polished up the old line and used 1/2 inch Swagelok unions. Super solid and no leaks.
That’s actually freaking brilliant, wish I would have thought of doing something like that. Doing line work is pretty new to me, still learning about all the different hacks. I plan on replacing my fuel lines and also deleting my ABS pump and routing the lines from the master cylinder straight to the existing brake line ends, so it’s best I learn a thing or two about line unions and adapters etc.
Note On Changing ATF Cooler Lines
