Gonzotiki_666

Talk about a transmission fluid bloodbath! Not sure of it's relevance, but I know I have a relatively small leak at the torque converter that was going to be addressed in time. Tonight after a ride home from mom's (maybe 40 miles)-it flares/slips in first gear a bit at a stop sign 2 blocks from my house. Blort.

Uh oh, there's a red trail of fluid following me up the drive way. I quickly back into the garage, as there's no way I'm gonna do an Al Bundy and push this 4000lb thing in myself.

I look under the car & the reservoir is freaking empty. There seems to be a good size crack on the top a gasket on of one of the lines leading in/out (I presume to the cooler up front). To confirm, I fired it up to get it pressurized & sure enough, it's leaking like a lil bastard from that very spot. The pic is from the right side of the car.

Soooooo-what am I looking at here? A relatively cheap replacement of a 30 year old rubber piece, or something far more sinister? If nothing else, I'm glad I didn't have to call for a tow. I was scheming the next big projects on my way home too!

Thanks in advance for your expertise. This forum and you 928 savvy peeps are the best.

blown 87

You are looking at a major loss of your money.
My advise it to replace every rubber hose on your car with the correct parts, if they have not been replaced in the last ten years.

You asked............

jpitman2

Check the cost of genuine hoses against local hose rebuilds, you may be surprised, or not. But as the man said, check and replace all rubber hoses whose age you do not know, starting with fuel lines.
jp 83 Euro S AT 54k

Gonzotiki_666

Did some research. Looks like a $90 part from a few different vendors-not crippling as long as the trans isn't ruined -- it'll be a large paperweight for some time if it's toast. I'll do the other trans lines while I'm under the car too. Full rubber refresh is planned as soon as there's some spare cash around. They are cash hungry creatures these cars. Thanks.

Don Carter

Colin,

Just went though this last month on my 89. I had good luck buying 5' of Gates transmission cooling hose and FI type clamps (but larger) at the local auto parts, maybe $20 in parts. Dropped the exhaust and heat sheilds, then replaced two rear hoses and one front hose with the new hose. I used a dremmel to get the old crimp fittings off, then put the new hose/clamps on. If the stock hoses are affordable and available, maybe a better way to go, but I decided to go this route, as many others have, and I think it will work out fine.

Speedtoys

Well...thats a little unfair.

It's 30yrs old...and critical things havent had any preventative maintenance done on them..so when a failure happens, it's not the cars fault, or the price of the repair.

CraigL

Unfair? I suppose so. Good point about the lack of PM.

But there are some parts whose price is ... well ... mean spirited. For example, try replacing both the right and left side Fog/Driving lights (93 GTS) in the bumper like I just did. I advise you to premedicate before calling one of the parts suppliers.

I'm sure there are many other examples (transmission hard parts, camshaft gears). Good thing these cars are so d*mned cool and that wrenching is therapeutic. Ha!

Speedtoys

Oh ya...cosmetic crap can be shocking, but I havent hit any PM stuff that has shocked me much at all.

Gonzotiki_666

Don, I like this idea. You just reused the connectors I gather? The pressure doesn't seem particularly high so I see this would work nicely.

I'll rephrase my earlier point- MY car is cash hungry from years of prior neglect.

Thanks

Don Carter

Yes, reuse the inside male part of the crimped fittings, slip the hose over and clamp. Agree, there is really no reason the pressures would be very high, since it is just pushing fluid to the cooler and back. Anyway, a crimpted fitting is just another way of clamping a hose, so not a huge difference. Many of us are replacing our fuel hoses the same way.

It was a very messing job, and I did it on a lift. Every time I thought a line or the tranny had stopped dripping, there would be new puddle on the floor. Still cleaning up from it :-)

Mrmerlin

for the trans line repair,
I suggest to remove them and get them crimped at a hose shop, the screw clamps seem to not be the best solution and if they begin leaking then you have to do this job all over again.
A few have tried the screw clamps and they have had to rework this repair, so you can make your choice

Don Carter

Stan,

Were the screw type clamps you used this type?

Mrmerlin

those would be the clamps i prefer to use.. to clamp hoses..

HOWEVER..... ATF lines are different due to the fluids that they carry

SO, I took my lines off and had fresh hydraulic lines fitted then crimped on,
also i had the shop install the heat shielding over the flexible portions

SeanR

So, are you saying that a high pressure application like fuel lines, these clamps are ok, but a low pressure application, like the transmission lines, they are not?

Bit confused here.

GregBBRD

Maybe we should define "low pressure" and "high pressure"?

Every single transmission hose that I've seen that is clamped has leaked. I do not considier this to be a "repair", but more of a "patch", until the proper hoses can be obtained.

I believe that the "wild" fluctuations in temperature with the addition of pressure doom clamped hoses, in this application.

Of course, I don't "clamp" fuel lines either, except on the "low pressure" early cars.

I like to think of clamps versus crimps this way:

If Porsche spent the money to have it crimped, there must be a reason....because clamps are a hell of a lot cheaper and a hell of a lot easier to make lines out of, than crimps.