I have a question about the transmission lines that go to the engine mounted heat exchanger. The rear line lost its coupler clip I believe and is now leaking quite a bit. I took it to the shop and they told me that clip is a dealer only item. So now I have it at the dealer and they're telling me that they might not get to it today.

Of course I didn't have an appointment, I thought that since I knew where it was leaking, and what the problem was, that they could fix it in less than a half hour.

Does anyone know if this is really the case and if they can't/won't fix it, can I get the clip from them and do it myself? I couldn't tell exactly how they attach. From other threads, I don't want to bypass the heat exchanger, but I need to get my truck back ASAP. Any thoughts, ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

If your truck has the older style plastic clips let it be a warning, they are well known to fail and take the tranny with them. Not even sure if the old style clips are availble, new clips don't work with the old lines. If your dealer has a tech worth anything I'm sure they'll recommend you replace everything.
More info here> http://dodgeram.org/tech/transmissio..._couplings.htm

 

What Bill said.
Those couplers changed up to a new set of lines with good old fashioned threaded flare fittings.

 

Thanks for the info. Is there a recall out on these lines? I had to pay $320 to have the lines, etc replaced. Now it seems like my transmission is slipping when I accelerate from a stop. They said they topped off the fluid, but ut feels like it's low to me. I'm just worried that I'll be replacing the transmission before too long...

 

There are two possible things to look at:
1. Perhaps they overfilled the tranny and there are bubbles
2. Perhaps they didn't let the torque convertor fill before checking the fluid.
Both over and under-filling can do the same thing.

 

I agree with Smokee, check the level in N with the engine running.
There was a recall on the gassers to replace the funky lines because a leak could start a fire. Not so on the cooler running diesels.

 

Actually the old style connector with the clip is no longer available. It superceeds to the new line and required fittings. I lean pretty hard on customers to replace them all, but few do. Guess they figure it's my business to rip them off. You can get the one fitting, line and heat exchanger fitting and most likely it will take care of your prob as that line carries the "hottest" fluid, but again, if you are keeping your truck for the long haul, I would do em all.