Oil cooler line misery

[Rice Cooker]

Okay, not sure if this is in the correct forum or not (engine part, but not a "hard part", and it sure ain't electric either), but I am desperately looking for a set of stock oil cooler lines. This is for the stock oil cooler inside the stock radiator in a stock car with stock everything (just trying to be crystal clear here).

I've checked Kirban, johnsperformance.com, seturbo.com, NAPA, and a few other places and nothing so far, unless I'm blind.

Let me restate that I need STOCK lines, not necessarily NOS parts mind you, but not any kind of "better/faster/more efficient" aftermarket replacement.

Long story short, my PTSXtreme.com radiator is not working with my stainless oil cooler lines. They are both advertised as stock replacement parts, and the lines DID work with the stock rad. until it busted. On the PTS rad., the fittings bottom out before the flare end does, resulting in substantial oil leaks because the line "floats" inside the fitting.

I spent damn near $600 for that radiator, and I either need the stock lines that it is "guaranteed" to work with, or I need to prove that it just plain doesn't work, because as you may have guessed, it's already full of coolant and oil (aka non-returnable).

Please help! TIA

[PaCemkr86]

back in the day i had to do the same thing, i just went to a hydralic hose place and had some new ones made, for around 48 bucks

[zeus87gn]

Pacemker has the right idea. Get some made locally to you.

Something else...if the lines you have fit the stock radiator, and don't fit this one, the threads are obviously different. You may just need a fitting to adapt it correctly. If you can figure out what thread it is (maybe with a bolt) you can find an adapter. Probably have to go to a specialty hardware store.

HTH

[Rice Cooker]

Originally Posted by zeus87gn

Pacemker has the right idea. Get some made locally to you.

Something else...if the lines you have fit the stock radiator, and don't fit this one, the threads are obviously different. You may just need a fitting to adapt it correctly. If you can figure out what thread it is (maybe with a bolt) you can find an adapter. Probably have to go to a specialty hardware store.

HTH

The threads work just fine, the problem is that the fitting bottoms out before it reaches the point where the flare end will seal. I think I'm just going to keep looking for stock lines. Thanks though.

[87geeinn]

I have a pair of stock oil cooler lines if you want them. $30 shipped. Just let me know. I accept PayPal and can send Monday.

[Rice Cooker]

Originally Posted by 87geeinn

I have a pair of stock oil cooler lines if you want them. $30 shipped. Just let me know. I accept PayPal and can send Monday.

Bruce at PTSXtreme made a suggestion, so I'm going to try that first, but I will definitely let you know. Thanks.

[Rice Cooker]

The problem is FIXED!!!

I talked to Bruce at PTSXtreme.com (the company that sold me the rad.) and he said this had happened to two other people before. The problem with THEIR lines is that somewhere along the way, someone had torqued down the fittings so hard, that the flare on the line and the flare on the radiator were distorted. When the new radiator was dropped in, these distorted lines no longer had the correct flare angle to properly seal with the flare inside the rad. fitting. A strategically placed O-ring provided the material to bridge the small gap between the male and female flare in their set-up.

In MY case, I'm still stumped. After talking to Bruce, I pulled off my lines and inspected everything. No galled threads, no distorted flares (these lines are essentially brand new) on either side, no apparent reason why I would be having this problem. However, having already purchased some o-rings earlier in the day, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I threw a couple in there. As far as I can tell, the problem is now fixed and I am ecstatic!!!

****I want to point out that over the past 10 months or so, I've done a lot of business with www.johnspeformance.com and I've never had a single issue come up with anything. Also, John was quick to respond to my distress e-mail, and has always been great with customer service (once he actually stopped me from purchasing something from him because he knew it was only for hot-air cars and I own an '87). Thusly, I'm attributing this fiasco to a tear in the space-time continuum, global warming, and the Al-Qaeda insurgency, as I have said before that these lines worked just fine with the stock rad. until it blew. I still have no idea what was wrong, but it works now, and that's all I care about.

I would also like to point out that Bruce at PTSXtreme was very helpful over the phone with trying to diagnose the problem, and he was just as stumped as I was. He's sold 40 or so of these radiators so far, and so far only three have met with this "problem", that doesn't even really have anything to do with the radiator at all, except that it's built exactly how it's supposed to be. All three were solved with $2 worth of o-rings.

Thanks to everyone who helped out, I really appreciate it.