93-Z28 Reman. Trans from GM

I seem to have a constant/steady leak from the transmission cooling lines on the passenger side on the tranny. I verified the leak with the car running and using a mirror. The drip is steady with the car running. I think the lines just needs to be tighten. They must have vibrated loose since the I replaced my tranny 8k miles ago. Is there an easy way to get to them and tighten them without dropping the tranny? It looks pretty tight with the exhaust/cat in the way. Thanks in advance

 

You don't have to drop thetrans to tighten thos up. Rais the car and take a look, should be prity easy, just for insurance use teflon seal on the threads before you tight them.

 

sssalah,
I hope you're right. It just looks pretty tight in there. Any recommendation for a specific tool? Please see the link from Brent Frankers page. Thanks

http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/94Z/tranny10.jpg

http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/94Z/tranny10.jpg

 

I just forgot how tight it was there, but maybe you could get at it while extending your arm from the rear side of the trany to where the line are. If that doesn't work u could remove the cross member and try to jack the front of the engine till more clearence is gained.
You could use an open wrench I think its 13mm or if you have a flare wrench it'd be ideal.

 

I'd definitely get a flare (line) wrench for this (1/2"). Those nuts are pretty soft. I don't see how anyone could get a wrench on those things without moving the tranny/engine some. I just finished a TC swap last weekend, btw. Those damn lines were hands down the worst part of the job

 

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the responses.

 

Well, I removed the crossmember and tranny mount to allow a little more room, but I still can't reach the two lines. The rear portion dropped a little, but not enough. Does anybody have any other suggestions. I starting to think I'm gonna have drop the whole tranny to get to these lines to tighten them. Any help appreciated.Thx

 

I just replaced my tranny 2 wks. ago and forgot to tighten the bottom line all of the way and had to tighten it with the tranny and exhaust bolted up. I didn't have to drop the tranny, but I also don't have a Cat on my car. What I did was remove the little heat shield that is right there on the bottom of the car under the passengers seat. Then I backed the nut out a couple of turns and put some silicone on the threads with a flat blade screw driver then tightened it down. I tried to get a few different wrenchs up there but couldn't, so I ended up cutting one in half, well actually a little less than half. I cut as short as I possibly could but made sure that I left it just long enough so that I could get the torque/leverage on it to snug the bolt down. Hope this helps and Good Luck.

 

Rich_Z28,
Thanks for your suggestions. I just tried using a "stubby wrench" that is less than half the size of the normal line wrench, and I still can't get a good grip on these lines. I thought I might have been able to move the upper line a little. But as soon as I lowered the car & started it up, they both started leaking right away. The only good news about this whole thing, is that at least now I know exactly where my leak is coming from. Looks like I am going to have to drop the tranny after all. I just hope I don't need to replace the lines. Thanks again.....

 

I had a problem with my line having a leak in the middle of it. I was going to replace the hole line but I couldn't get a turn on the fittings. I ended up just splicing the line.

But, I read later where someone said to remove the transmission cross member and pull the drive shaft and that would let the tranny drop enough to get the fittings loose/tight.

Hope that works for you. Let us know the outcome

Good Luck
Z~

 

i used a shorty wrench (17mm if i recall correctly) anyways... its a regular wrench, just short... im thinking... 4 inchs long? maybe a little shorter... and when it came to really tighting it down... i used a ratchet extension pipe to pry it...

(little hint)

to help GET the wrench onto the fitting in the first place... put the open circle end of the wrench on your index/middle finger like a ring, then slide your finger out.. trying it the other way resulted in many scars on my hand from the cat heat shield


pm if you need anymore help on it

 

i typed this already but it got deleted...


anyways, you DEFINATLY want to take the transmission crossmember out thats attached to the mount... but you DO NOT have to remove the driveshaft in any way... the d/s will move up and down with the tranny with no problem...
jack up the tranny with the crossmember still on... completely remove the crossmember, and SLOWLY lower the jack all the way... the tranny will sag on the motor mounts, not causing any damage, but it will give you a good extra two inches to get to those lines... imo the best place to be is to have your head under the cat and a magentic hanging flashlight on the y pipe...

 

If you wind up having to completely replace the lines, you can get them (5/16") from NAPA already double flared at each end with a fittings and they come in varying lengths.

I tried over and over to double flare my own and not once did I get one worth a crap. Maybe I suck at double flaring, maybe the tool I got to do it sucked (it was $12 from Autozone), who knows.. Anyway, I wound up getting 2 lines from NAPA, the only end that requires the double flare is the end that goes in the tranny, the other side of each line can be (and is) cut to length and clamped. The hard part is done for you.

From there, just remove a line and use it as a guide to bend (get a small tube bender) its replacement, test fit, knock out the other one. Wasn't too bad.

 

I just can't seem to get the tranny low enough to get at those lines. I have lowered the tranny by removing the crossmember, but it is still to tight to get a good grip on those lines. I hope I haven't stripped the bolt while trying to tighten it. I have even tried using a crow foot wrench, but still no luck. Any other ideas?