I have a new radiator. The tranny line flare fitting is leaking. no reason at all. it seated nicely. it screwed in nicely. I went as far as using teflon tape, even though I know that's wrong. I tightened it as far as I am comfortable tightening it.

What else can I do ???

rock auto el cheapo radiator.

 

It is possible that the flaring is too large for the new rad. You could cut the end off, put a new piece on the rad and then join the two sections with flexible hose. It will work but it isn't original, or pretty.

 

Not the el cheapo radiator...Not gonna get a scapegoat that easily...but a crossed thread in the flare nut. Its NOT seated. It leaks past the nut onto the line and out... and yes, its WAY wrong to use teflon tape.

You;re standing on the edge....

its going to be easy to fall off at this point.

You can unscrew the flare nut and look at the damaged threads...seeing the tiny bits of aluminum wrapped in the steel nut thread, and PRAY that you can restart the nut and run it in within the correct (< 50/50 chance) thread path. OR, you can take the whole mess out and take it to a shop and get the female thread repaired by tapping, filling or some type of heli-coil for hyd fittings. Whatever they do.

What you CAN do in the meantime to be able to drive the car is to d/c both steel lines from the radiator and get some trans fluid hose (ask for trans fluid hose!) and loop them together until you can get the aluminum fixed. Its gonna try to get hot...but not severly unless you;re pulling a trailer. Or get a small after market cooler and mount it somewhere that you can run lines to and forget the radiator fittings. Mine goes thru both for added cooling and another pint capacity.

BTW..there is nothing wrong with your "cheap" radiator. I bought one off FleaBay 2+ yrs ago and have had zero issues and I have $300 left in my pocket that the "name brand" buyers do not have....
Why are we predisposed to using terms like "cheap" when there are better terms like "inexpensive" or less expensive..that are more accurate and more descriptive? There is nothing cheap about my radiator. In fact, the quality of construction equals the name brand. I looked at both sitting side by side. As far as the cost....it was "less expensive" than the other and there is the matter of that $300.....

 

I'll say it again, everything seated NICELY. nothing is cross threaded or stripped. Everything goes in hand tight, as far as possible before a wrench goes on the fitting.

I removed it, and tefloned it, and we'll see. yep, I know teflon is useless on a flare, but I am out of ideas.

Maybe the new radiator flare is slightly different that the OEM lines.

It's a spectra. only got 4 years from the old one. next time it will be a GM.

 

Is it possible that the nut is bottoming out instead of threading in far enough to force the tube flare against the corresponding seat in the rad fitting? (If you still have threads showing once it's tightened then you can discount that possibility.)

Are both fittings leaking? Have you closely inspected the flare surfaces for cracks or debris?

 

Did you use a pik to dig out any thread gaurds or inserts in the female end?

is it leaking past the tubing between nut/tubing? is there ANY slack in the steel tubing that lets you pull the tube in/out of the nut while its bottomed out in the female reciever?


I said crossed because I've done it. And it seems impossible because you can start the flare nut finger tight and seem to get a full turn or 2 before it starts to drag... Its very difficult to see what "straight" is when trying to screw in a nut that has a stiff tube thru it that wants to pull one way or the other. It may look straight from above but from the side you can see that its crooked in the female side.

Aluminum threads will strip faster than a drunken cheerleader..

heres the deal. Flares are very forgiving because of the shape of the seat. So much that even if its bent, there is so much sealing surface that almost any pressure 360 degrees on the flare will result in a seal. So, that is where I get "crossed" because there is not a 360 seat...the nut isn;t pressing against the flare 360...and the only way that happens is if its crossed.
Whats there to loose? pull it out and examine the steel threads for signs of cross threading. Worst case it is, and you have to loop the 2 lines until the female can be repaired. Sure ain;t gonna be any worse than it is now is it?

Might consider pulling the line out and running some other same size male into that hole and see how far it screws in before bottoming out.