1990, 125k on it. Radiator is cracked and I'm replacing. Got parts, got most of it disassembled no problem but hit a major problem.

There are two transmission lines that run out of the bottom of the radiator. I have gotten screws and clips off but I cannot pull the actual lines off of the fittings. I'll attach a pic of the replacement so people can see the set up: the transmission lines slide onto the ends of the two brass looking fittings.

I've been out there most of the afternoon and nothing is working to pull these off. Sprayed with WD40, tried to get under them with a screwdriver. Really hoping someone has an idea, any idea. Every video I've seen of it, these guys slide right off.

 

1. Insert something in between the hose and go around the inner circumference of the hose. The use a back and forth twisting motion while pulling the hose.

2. See if a local part store has a hose removal tool like this.





Otherwise, you might have to cut the hoses off and get new ones.

 

You can also use a pair of pliers to hold the hose and twist it back and forth while pulling.

 

Thanks that's helpful. I hadn't seen that tool before.

The other option is to just remove the lines by detaching the brass fitting from the radiator. Supposedly they are 19mm but for some reason I couldn't get a wrench on them.

 

Buy a few feet of trans cooler hose and just cut the old ones and replace with new hose.....if the old hose is that "rock hard", why not replace and not have to worry with leaks down the road.....just my two cents.

 

Thanks yall. Got em off there...wasn't pretty but got there.

If could waste some more of yalls time: when bleeding I noticed the driver's side fan wasn't coming on (let the passenger side come on 3x just to make sure they weren't staggered). The driver's side has two connection running into it. One is a little bigger and was filled with a white goo.

Anyone know if that's supposed to be there or if maybe a bad fan is what caused the radiator to fail in the first place? I know some aluminum connects have an anti-oxide paste on them, but can't find anything definitive about this one.

 

The white goo is probably dielectric grease to prevent corrosion in the connection, so it was intentionally put there either at the factory or maybe by someone doing work on it. You can clean out the old grease with electrical contact cleaner. Put some new grease in there. You can buy the packets for pretty cheap at the autoparts store. They usually recommend them for headlight electrical connections.

If you turn on your a/c, both fans should turn on. If the driver's side fan does not turn on, try the caveman test by hitting the electrical motor with the handle of a screwdriver with light/medium force. If the fan kicks on, then you pretty much narrowed down the problem to the fan motor. The driver's side fan motor is called the a/c condenser motor, because the motor is flat, but it should turn on with the other fan to cool the radiator.

Not sure what you mean by the two connections for the fan. There should only be 2 wires running to the fan motor. There are 2 relays on the metal fan housing that switch on the fan and the other is the relay for the compressor. You can test for voltage to the bad fan motor at the connector to that fan. Turning on the a/c helps, because your fans should be getting power the whole time.

 

Thanks PA, those are pro tips. I replaced the dilelectric grease. On this car the AC doesn't work (for reasons I haven't investigated). I keep the heat valve closed (on the lines running into the blower) just to keep the temp in the car down in the summer.

With the AC always off, should the second fan (driver's side) always stay off also?

(when I said 2 connections before, I meant the two relays).

 

The second fan should always turn on with the first fan when the engine is running. The term a/c fan and radiator fan are misleading. Both fans turn on to cool the radiator and the a/c condenser.

The only time the radiator fan will turn on by itself is when the engine is shut off and the coolant reaches over 220F to close temp sensor B.

 

Thanks PA. I think the fan motor or ECT is bad. Will take a week or so for me to troubleshoot but i'll update once its solved.