Quote:
Originally Posted by x5Alpine
Just replace the line. Cutting corners and cost on an older BMW will just come back to haunt you. So many of these cars are maintained on a shoe string budget and it shows as lots of them car ending up at co part.
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It depends. The very reason for this current project, replacement of the radiator, trans cooler, thermostats, and hoses is all preventative maintenance. I went with Behr on the radiator, trans cooler, and trans thermostat, and Rein on the hoses-except one, only available from BMW. But the transmission cooler lines are really simple parts. The steel section will essentially never wear out, and the rubber bits are easily replaced with oil cooler hose from McMaster Carr. The pressure in those lines isn't very high at all. The o-rings and sealing washers at the transmission end are easily had. The sticking point as it turns out are the push-lock connectors at the cooler. The lines coming out of the cooler are 14mm, and I've been unable to find disconnects in that size anywhere. So...I may yet end up replacing these lines with new OEM assemblies, but not now. If nothing else I don't want to leave it stuck in the driveway for another week, especially when I have high confidence in a repair to the one problematic connector.