Removing oil cooler lines

So my boys 110k L03 with tow pack needs a new radiator. Figure we could low it out in under two hours this morning. BZZZT


It has the oil cooler lines into the rad as its a tow pack. The lower one the nut is frozen to the tube and after breaking free the line turned with the nut.

I had him hold against and now it is twisting the the oil line and wouldn't break free from the line.....

Option 1, order new lines to go to the rad

Option 2 order new oil filter adapter and lose the lines

Option 3 Someone here has a great idea.

Option 3 is preferable as it costs the least lol.

His car is down until we can re,edgy it....ideas?

tube cutter cut the line,. piull rad,. turn piece and nut out,.
then use a compression union to join it back together.

Boom! Thanks Nick

Am I too late for option 1? lol

Same thing happened to mine I went with no1 then decided to go to option 2 and am much happier and no more leaks! Jeff

I've done both option 1 (on my 94 1A2 wagon) and option 2 (on my 94 RMW). But this is a L03 with town pack and my son's car that won't ever tow anything.... I'm going with Nick's suggestion as it'll cost about $7 for the fitting and I can buy it at Home Depot. He's on a budget and currently driving my car, so I'm motivated to get it done sooner than later, lol. I'll be cutting it after work tonight

If the line is already rusted solid to the fitting and has started to twist, I'd replace it before it blows. They like to fail right at the fitting, where the dissimilar metals meet, and they blow at the most inconvenient times. Don't Ask Me How I Know This (TM).

For now, if money is tight, I'd get two compression unions and a short chunk of tube formed into a U. Cut the lines back at some good pipe and join them together, bypassing the cooler altogether.

Well we tried the cut and out compression fitting in. It had a drip about every second out if both sides of the fitting. I tightened both sides about a half turn each, and now it leaks three drips a second out of one side........sigh.

Go to a junk yard and grab the filter adapter from a non cooler equipped vehicle. Most yards I have been to give them away.

94Woody wrote:

Go to a junk yard and grab the filter adapter from a non cooler equipped vehicle. Most yards I have been to give them away.

only problem with that is, 95% of the b-bodys around here don't have engines in them by the time I see them....but that probably is the next step.

Fred has one for sale for $35.

Tom

The adapter you need was used on the Small Block Chevy for decades. Mine came from a 1/2 ton truck.

$35? Is it Gold Plated?

http://www.amazon.com/Allstar-ALL92000-Engine-Filter-Adapter/dp/B006K8W5ZE

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D954X42/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687642&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B006K8W5ZE&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0MZY2ZVE4731V7H60G5K

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ses-3-60-08-900/overview/make/gmc

well Rock Auto has the line I need for $21 bucks. It should be here in a couple days. On the LT1 cars the lines came as a pair and were around $90. On the TBI you can buy each one separately for much less .

I did the adapter swap and it was a HUGE PITA to clean off the old gasket recessed into the block...

Too late to chime in really, but a lot of penetrating oil, while cleaning gunk out of the fitting with a pick often does it for me.  

If the radiator isn't a concern, like this instance,  I would take a bit of torch heat to it. Not red hot, but small doses to get it nice and hot.  If the flame is too sketchy for you, a heat gun works nicely as well.   I've used this method on my own TBI wagons, without damage to any other components.  In my case, I was just replacing the lines.  


On the fitting you used, Teflon tape on the fitting should get you squared away. They are a soft metal, so over-tightening tends to cause worse leaks. reassemble it with Teflon tape, and tighten it "snug" but not much more.  It 'shouldn't' leak after that.


Those adapter gaskets are a real pain, for sure. I use a pneumatic die grinder, with a scotch-brite pad to clean the surface. You could fit an electric drill with them as well, if shop air is out of the question.

Sprocket wrote:

well Rock Auto has the line I need for $21 bucks.   It should be here in a couple days.   On the LT1 cars the lines came as a pair and were around $90.   On the TBI you can buy each one separately for much less .

I did the adapter swap and it was a HUGE PITA to clean off the old gasket recessed into the block...

FYI: the LT1 lines are a lot easier to access at the filter housing than that L05 ones (perhaps the only thing on an LT1 engine you can say that about).

buickwagon wrote:

Sprocket wrote:

well Rock Auto has the line I need for $21 bucks.   It should be here in a couple days.   On the LT1 cars the lines came as a pair and were around $90.   On the TBI you can buy each one separately for much less .

I did the adapter swap and it was a HUGE PITA to clean off the old gasket recessed into the block...

FYI: the LT1 lines are a lot easier to access at the filter housing than that L05 ones (perhaps the only thing on an LT1 engine you can say that about).

Oh great. It's an L03 with factory tow pack (and as a '92 where the 350 was an option, WTH was the buyer thinking! At least they got posi)
Maybe I'll try Thantos' trick with some Teflon first....as an experiment.

When I had it off the old rad and before I put it in the new one, I put heat and penetrating oil on it to try and work the nut loose but even letting it sit for a day didn't help. the worse part was the roughly 120 degree twist I put on the old pipe before I realized it was frozen to the nut. When I screwed it into the new radiator the 90 degree bend was facing the wrong way.

Using the heat and my bent vise I managed to get the twist backed off from about 120 to 40 or so degrees. That plus bending the other end of the supply line got me enough to put the compression fitting on, but then the line is now rubbing the sway bar (was going to cut a heater hose to make a sleeve for it....

I got sick of those freezing up. For various reasons (and 4 RMWs) I've replaced a number of radiators. This last time I slathered anti-seize on the line where it goes through the tube nut. Of course I won't know until it needs another radiator if it works.