Cooling lines:

I put this post in the engine section as it cover a couple of different sections:
Last Sunday, a neighbor asked me to jump start his BMW after taking a few weeks to make a repair to to top half of his engine.
When we were putting the csbles on my truck I noticed there was transmission fluid in a small puddle on the skid plate. Wiping down the lines and fittings I could see the connections from rubber to metal were leaking. I had this in my 2002 Duramax, but not to this extent.
I spent the past week looking at youtube and the various GM and Chevy sites on how to do the repair.
Chevy/GMC run lines out of their trans and to the radiator and at some turns the use rubber lines to make it easier to install the long lines. It is at these rubber to metal lines where the leaks occur. GM won't admit there is a connection problem although certain years are recalled to fix the same type connections at the same place mine leaks.
I have a 5 day weekend with school out for 4 days, but my garage if full and I'm not going to work under my truck with temps ranging from -5 to +10 for the next 5 days.
I took my truck to a local transmission shop that had installed a pump rub kit on the transfer case on my Duramax. The owner pointed out my oil cooler line to the radiator was also leaking. With 2 spare cars while the kids are in school I left it with him, told him to replace whatever line is leaking. He gave me a ballpark of $100 cash to fix it all. I think that was a more than fair price and won't complain even if it doubles and is well done. Chevy would just replace the entire lines and put the same clamps on that will eventually leak again.
I'm almost afraid to open the hood on the 2008 Yukon and look at the same lines. Reading on the subject, the leaks are more likely to occur when it drops below 20F degrees.

The truck is still not fixed, they got it on the lift after lunch and found at least 4 more connections leaking. Still better them fixing it indoors than me outside in the cold.

Got my truck back. Lines are fixed, not too happy about them using hose clamps. $225.

Fixed them many different ways over the years. One way with hose clamps was to cut the metal crimp ring off, replace the rubber hose and use 2-3 clamps per connection. That setup has about 6 yrs on it now and still not leaking as far as I know.

Simplest fix is to just replace the line set but those will start leaking over time as well. Another fix was to cut the factory crimp ends of the tubing off and flare the tubing for a 37* JIC fittings and Push-Lok hose.

GM did change their specs on those cooler hose assemblies over the years.
My dad had a 1989 K1500 that was leak free for 15 yrs until we had to replace the radiator. One of the engine oil cooler hoses twisted off at the radiator so it had to be replaced. The material and construction of the new hose was obviously different than the old and started showing signs of seepage within 2 years.

Same with my older V3500s, OE fittings much more robust.

I'm going to put an extra clamp on the transmission lines as he only put one hose clamp on each. I really wish it was summer so I could have done it myself. On the oil cooler lines he did put 2 clamps on and new fittings that had to be silver soldered.

I looked at our 2008 Yukon and notice one of the lines is starting to weep.

These saved me from replacing the junk GM ones for a third time.

End all fix

I've seen those and think they are well worth the money. I really don't trust the repair the transmission shop did, probably change them out in the spring. Why couldn't GM just do it right? They have had this same problem for 15 years now.

TheQuig wrote:

I've seen those and think they are well worth the money. I really don't trust the repair the transmission shop did, probably change them out in the spring. Why couldn't GM just do it right? They have had this same problem for 15 years now.

I agree, they warrantied them 1 time for me, but put the same junk that was on there originally?? Makes no sense whatsoever, I had to take the bull by the horns and fix it right and forever..

Update:

The fix I did was all well and good, but the original "hard pipe" that remained form the factory rotted and was weeping. Had a local guy change the lines, I failed to mention my fix and he installed the original GM lines and tossed what he took off ! So now I'm back to OEM junk...

Did you sign that you did not want the old parts?
Michigan law states owner is entitled to parts back unless core charge applies.

Last week when I change the oil on my truck I noticed a trace of a fluid leaking. Yup, it was where the metal cooling lines attached to the rubber hoses. I was able to tighten them down. I'll have to remember in the next few days to see if they are still leaking as I cleaned the area pretty good so I will notice a drip.

Diesel Dan wrote:

Did you sign that you did not want the old parts?
Michigan law states owner is entitled to parts back unless core charge applies.

This was a cash deal, through a friend. This guy is good and CHEAP ,so I'm more at fault then his.