Here is just a heads up for you drivers with automatics:

I lucked out big time on this one. I was putting my front drive shaft back on my truck the other day and noticed my undercarriage was a slick, red-oily mess

Transmission fluid had coated just about everything under the front half of the truck. I started my truck and let it idle while I got under there to see where it was leaking from and found a steady drip from one of the tranny coolant lines.

The two oil cooler lines run side-by-side and are held together with little oval shaped straps. Well, the vibrations from the mighty 5.9 managed to cause these straps to wear holes in my lines.

The straps only wore holes in 2 spots on one of the lines.
I took it to a machine shop and had the little pin-holes brazed closed and if any of you run into the same problems such as mine, try your best to have a machine shop repair it. A new line from the dealer is $150 vs my $31 from the brazing and 2 big cans of degreaser.

So yeah, automatic trans drivers, dont be afraid to get under there and snoop around your lines to see if you might have a problem coming up the road.

 

I've had that same issue with the trans lines as they pass the side of the engine block. Specifically there where the lines transition to rubber as they go to the front mounted cooler.
When recently overhauling my heaps transmission, I found the exact same worry-marks on the lines and clamps there under the heat exchanger.

If you're in a bind and can't fix it just yet, a small piece of rubber hose and a screw type hose clamp makes an effective band-aid patch for the moment.

 

Thanks for the heads up and info..

 

This applies to almost all vehicles with autos. The exact same thing happened to my 90 Chevy truck.

 

Thanks BC847!

Last week we were on vacation 300miles from home and I kept loosing trans fluid fast. I took the laptop to the campground lodge (free wifi) and in a few minutes found this thread. Found where my trans cooler line was rubbing against the cross frame under front of engine. This rubbed a hole in the line causing reddish fluid to go everywhere.

I was in the middle of nowhere durning a holiday weekend. You "band-aid patch" idea saved the day (and saved our vacation). Drove all the way home several days later, towing our 10,000 Lb. travel trailer with this patch no problem, no leaks.

Now I just need to remember to get it fixed right and not leave the patch on too too long.....