I'm on my fourth (yes 4'th) pair of hoses for the oil cooler lines. Tired of the OEM/GM lines going south after 2-3 years so going with Dorman. They can't be worse, and what's more, Rockauto has them for $34, no tax, and lifetime warranty. Not normally a fan of Dorman, but hell, the dealer wants $120 for these and Jason at the GM in Ft. Walton Beach, Fl wants $60 at near cost. I'm puttin' my money on Dorman this time and gettin' a lifetime set to boot.
Anyone else noticing the poor GM part quality on this ??
yeah, i'd swear GM changed their manufacturer a few years back and their supplier is crap offshore chinese stuff. like some of their fuel senders used to be (some still are).
I've had a dorman set on my Fleetwood for about 4 years now, a little over 30,000 miles. No issues or leaks. Bought them at Autozone for 40$ and like you said lifetime warranty.
Dave,
Yes, I am running synthetic oil. Also to answer another post, the tranny lines are not leaking and have never leaked (although it looks like now i might have a front seal going out).
Climbed under my driver Cady for coolant leak, - WP, a 3 year old rebuilt from AZ.
Noticed both ends of the front hose fittings of my 3 year old oil cooler hoses are leaking - a little. There's been no more than 2,000miles put on that car in that time.
I recall ordering hose set from Carquest but not certain of brand.
If gets worse I'll just go the AZ-Dorman route. Thanks
I went the same path as ProTools4 but with Earls hoses. I replaced that whole tube assy with bent 1/2" tubing and flared the ends for new Earls hoses that I will make once I get the sheet metal back on the front again. Going the route I took requires tapping the oil filter housing to 3/8" NPT adding some fittings and bending the tubing and it is certainly more expensive than just replacing the lines but I don't think I'll run into the problem of having leaking lines again.
Here is some pics of what I did. Made these a couple of years ago. Only part not listed is the -6an to -8an adapter. Owned my SS since 1996 and replaced theses hoses about every 2 years like clock work unitl I built these braided lines.
This can be done with transmission line cooler correct? I don't know how to do that stuff, there a tool to hook those fitting on or something and cutting the stock lines?
Deleted mine on both b-bodys...Been driving for years with no issues and even did the oil filter adapter mod. Not a drip! At least not from there...lol
I did new GM hoses on my Fleetwood and it can't have been more than 15k. I think they might be starting to drip again. What BS. Yet another problem my 93 never had.
As one person already said, cut the aluminum crimp and reclamp. Talking maybe $2 worth of clamps and a little bit of your time.
The rubber hose just hardened and shrink a little and the crimp is not tight. Use a clamp to retighten things and all is good.
It amazes me how people throw money away because they can't take the time to UNDERSTAND much of anything.
Yes at this age the rubber may need to be replaced but to replace it repeatedly just seems foolish. Understand WHY it is leaking and solve that problem.
Do not know whether the hose assembly on my 1995 Fleetwood is original, but today I noticed oil dripping from one of the hoses. It leaks from the connection of the rubber hose to the metal pipe going to the engine...
The Dorman-made hose assembly is about $50 at Advance and $60 at Autozaone. Sure, rockato.com sells for less - $32 plus S&H.
How bad is it going to be?
Would a hose clamp work?
Any chance of catastrophic failure down the road?
1. Dormanprovides lifetime Manufacturer's warranty for that part.
2. AZ (at least near me) is only 1 yr. warranty for the Dorman.
3. Advance (I believe) was lifetime, but 3 places I tried don't stock.
4. Carquest is lifetime for that Dorman part, and I bought it there for bout $50.
I have interesting follow-up right after replacing my hoses for the second time in 3 years:
There was still a continuous oil drip from front high on the motor for several days after doing the hoses that convinced me I had either a bad waterpump driveshaft seal (from the waterpump I had put on just a few months earlier to replace the 3-year old rebuilt as I mentioned above) or a leaking front main, or both.
I cleaned off the entire front of the engine, the frame and all the suspension extremely well with many rags and degreaser.... and no more drips. The driveway is bonedry now. And here I was just about ready to tear that WP off again!
Bottom-line, there had actually been enough oil slung up from just the leaking hoses to make it appear the motor was leaking somewhere.
Does anyone know where I can find a replacement fitting for my transmission line going into the radiator? Mine is a little marred and It won't hurt to get a replacement.
Hello everybody, You should always keep your old hose just for the connections. I'm in SoCal, Orange County, CA and one of the best things to do is to take it to Messa Hose, in Costa Messa where the hose is made SSB "stainless steel braided" line. My orginal line finally started to leak at the top fiting only when the temp fell below 40 F, the trans lines looks wet but not leaking. I'm at 246K and converted my engine oil cooler to a 9C1 style when I had 35K.
I went ahead and had a extra dorman part just in case, hanging on the wall.
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