HELP!!! 350 oil cooler line leaking

[Lugnutt]

I recently bought a 94 Burb 4WD drove it 2,000 miles from Oregon to Texas and now my upper oil cooler line is leaking from the metal fitting. There are no cracks but there appears to be a hole in the metal. I don't know if it's a factory defect or something else Does anyone know if replacing the line be a perm fix or is the hole there as a pressure relief? My oil pressure is normal.

 

[yoshisv]

My 89 blazer blew a oil cooler line and locked up before i could get to the side of the rode. after spending about $1,700 dollars doing a rebuild i decided to ditch the cooler and lines. No problems since.

 

[1985_K5_Silverado]

The metal fitting at the engine block adapter, or the metal fitting at the oil cooler?

On a related note, when I bought my '85 the oil cooler adapter on the engine block leaked slightly due to a weepy o-ring. Replaced the o-ring, as well as both lines for the sake of my peace of mind, and flushed the cooler.

A lot of cold-climate street-only guys and a lot of mall-crawler drivers just scrap the oil cooler for the sake of simplicity (less things to break or leak). Because they don't run the engine hard, they don't really need an oil cooler. On the other hand, if you tow trailers or just like to put your foot to the floor a lot, it's nice to keep that oil cool.

 

[Lugnutt]

The metal fitting w/ the hole is the fitting at the cooler end of the line where the metal is crimped onto the rubber hose. I was under the hood today and it seems that GM manufactures all of thier lines this way. The AC lines have the same type hole where the metal is crimped onto the rubber line. I'm just confused why would it leak from there and not from like you said an o ring or some place like that. If it's some sort of pressure relief my guage is showing normal and has ever since I purchaced the rig.

 

[goldwing2000]

The hole is just there to help make it easier to crimp the metal. If you have fluid coming from there, it's because the hose has failed under the crimp.

It's like a weep hole in a water pump. If it's leaking from there, the problem lies deeper within.

If you have a hydraulic hose fab place around you, they can fix it for you. As a temporary fix, you can cut the outside metal away from the rubber line and then stick a couple hose clamps on it.

 

[Lugnutt]

Thanks, a weep hole is kind of what I was afraid of. Any ideas on what would cause enough preassure for it to fail?

 

[goldwing2000]

Doesn't have to be pressure that makes it fail. It's a rubber line constantly soaked in oil. Things break down.