I have roughly 270 miles on my 68 Camaro after getting it running last November. On Saturday I was driving down the road casually and went to lightly accelerate and I heard a loud clank and suddenly smoke was pouring out from under my car. When we got the car back to my garage and got it up in the air we immediately saw what the problem was. One of the trans lines that fit into the Quick Connect Dorman trans fitting blew itself right out of the fitting. Has anyone else here ever seen this? I was told these fittings are pretty robust and the only way to get the line out is to pop the C-clip out. As you can see from the photo the C-clip appears to still be installed. What would cause this? Too much pressure? Or was the line maybe not pushed in properly?

Anyone else have one of these fail?

 

I would guarantee it wasn't pushed in all the way.

 

Agreed.

You can get them ALMOST pushed in...and they will feel good...but they aren't in

 

I agree with Jays_SSZ28 and MaroonMonsterLS, I don't see the plastic clip retainer either. I always replace those with new fittings. I have seen the clip worn and ...

 

The plastic clip is essentially useless.
It's mainly to keep dirt and debris out of there so you can pull the metal clip when you want to.
That plastic isn't going to retain the line or retain the clip any better

 

Tht plastic retainer is what keeps the clip from popping loose. U will know when the line is fully installed when u are able to install the plastic piece over the fitttings.

When its partially installed the plastic retainer want go on, because the metal clip is held up (hope this makes since lol).

 

^^^What he said! That plastic clip does double-duty as a dust shield, AND a clip retainer.

For the record, I've never liked these kind of connectors, and encourage everyone to eliminate them on their builds.

 

Dixie.....why do you discourage them? Is it because they are prone to failure like what appears to have happened here?

For the record I have not addressed the issue yet as I have been busy with other things but I hope to get under the car tonight. As you can see it appears the C-Clip is still in there so that was not the culprit (unless one of it's ears broke). The engine/driveline was finalized by a Speed Shop so I was not the one who chose to use these fittings. Not sure why they did. Is it possible it was pushed all the way in and the line worked itself out of the fitting or was blown out of there due to too much pressure?

 

it didn't work its way out...and it didn't get blown out.
either it wasn't pushed in all the way...or you have a one in a million case. a literal million...not a figure of speech.

I've seen those fittings at 100's of psi with no issue...and your trans didn't have that much pressure in the cooler circuit

 

Its very simple. YOU DID NOT HAVE THE LINE PUSHED all the way in. Thats it. I've seen then numerous times. Experienced it myself. When you push it "all the way in", try to pull it back out. Pull on it with a decent amount out force...dont pry it with a pry bar though. If it comes out, it was not in all the way. My buddy caught his car on fire because of this. I was in the car when it went up in flames. So, like I said....ive seen it.

The plastic cap keeps the clip from expanding. If you pull hard eoung on a line without the plastic retainer, it can come out....but you have to pry it or pull very hard. If i'm missing the plastic things, I put a zip tie around it for insurance.

 

Yup, that is exactly the reason why. I've always thought those fittings were a pain in the *** to deal with, but what really tore the issue for me was a series of incidents I had with a customer about ten years ago.
He had an early '00s Chevy Blazer, and one day the quick connect fitting (which didn't have the plastic retainer) popped off, spraying trans fluid all over the engine.
I chocked this up to an odd occurrence, pushed it back in, DOUBLE CHECKED IT BY PULLING ON IT A FEW TIMES, refilled the transmission, and away he went.

A couple of weeks later, it happened again, so I replaced the clip, ensured that the line was firmly in place by pulling on it with some force, and it held.

A few days later, it happened AGAIN, so I replaced that section of line with a good used section off of another GM truck, AND a new clip. It held for another couple of weeks until it popped off again.

At this point, he and I were both completely frustrated, so I replaced the quick connect fitting on the radiator with a flare-nut fitting and a new section of line : problem solved.

I'm not saying that the quick connect fittings NEVER work (otherwise GM wouldn't use them), but I've seen numerous times where a GM car was towed into the shop because it wouldn't move while in-gear, and it had a transmission line was popped off, AND IT DIDN'T HAVE THE PLASTIC RETAINER ON THERE.

Do you know how many times I've had a flare-nut fitting just come off on it's own? I'll give you a clue:
It starts with a "Z" and it rhymes with "hero."

The reason GM uses these fittings is to speed things up on the assembly line, NOT because they are the best option for line retention.

 

Wonder where the plastic things can be sourced?

 

Dealer or junkyard is where I'd try first, although I have little faith in the dealer parts-counter chimps to even know what the hell you're talking about, much less be able to find it without the VIN number, original bill of sale, and paint code.

To the original poster: since you've already got those lines installed in the vehicle, I'd just use them WITH the plastic clip retainer.

If you'd been starting over from scratch, I'd say to put in flare-nut fittings.

 

Those fitting and line set up's work very very well, these types of fittings are used on all types of connections including 1/2 lines coming in and out of Alison 2300RDS units on dump trucks and I've never seen one of them fail in the 13 years I've been working on heavy equipment. I've built many a line using that end with a mastercool flair tool. It kind of looks like these lines were custom made and the flair was put on them with the tool. I'd inspect that flair real good, it might be too deep past the retention hump and bottoming out in the fitting. Flip side if it's too short it won't make a positive seal.

 

For anyone reading this thread in the future...the fear of these fittings is unfounded and silly.
Use these fittings...push them in all the way...they will be fine.
In the millions...literally millions of GM cars these have been used in...they haven't shown to be a problem. They are still used today.
They're simple, effective, and in my experience seal MUCH better than any flare style setup. Because once its clipped in...it's in. It's sealed with an o ring and locked in place. I can't count the number of flare nuts I've seen that needed to be re-tightened to fix a slow drip. PITA

 

I happen to be one of those parts counter “chimps”. Let me explain to you something. We ask you your vin number because we want to get the correct part. I don’t know about you, but I would rather get the correct part, and that requires having the correct vehicle pulled up. Sometimes in the same year there was a redesigned part. Without the vin, we won’t know what you have. No, not all vehicles are the same. I hear that **** all the time when lazy people don’t want to get the vin. Sometimes that gets them the wrong part. And to prove a point, I politely say that we ask for the vin for a reason. I now refuse to look up a vehicle without a vin. You HAVE NO IDEA how many people don’t know what the **** they drive. Chevrolet is much worse than the manufacturer I work for. So if you need a part, don’t be a lazy ***, and give the guy the damn vin. He isn’t asking for it just because. You think we like typing in that long *** number?

We we don’t need the paint code unless you need a colored part and we are having issues with the data base. Happens. More than I’d like. You think we ask for it just for our health? We could just guess at it. We might get it right, we might not.

Bill of sale? Yea, if you need a key. We need prof of ownership. If not, what would stop you from getting a key to anyone’s car and driving off in it? That would be a little scary now wouldn’t it? I think if I were you, id be thankful that the parts guy “chimp” was doing his job and asking you the correct questions. After all, do you think we can read your mind? Smh. Clueless people.


just because you might know what kind of car you actually have, doesn’t mean that the five people before you or after you did too. How are we supposed to know you aren’t a dumbass? I’m not saying I do this, but one guy told me he assumes everyone he encounters is a dumbass until proven otherwise.

 

Do the clip retainers clip onto the line or do you have to slide them onto the line before you install the fittings? The reason I ask....the lines were built without the clip retainers installed.

 

slide them onto the line before they clip in

you can add them on anytime

 

I'm sure you're good at your job, but why is it that I can't even get the correct parts from the dealer even when I give them the part number?
Do you know how many times I've called the dealer parts counter (ANY dealer parts counter), and I give them the number STRAIGHT OFF OF THE PART IN QUESTION, and they say:

"That's not a good part number." Or "That part doesn't exist/ show up."

Also, do you know how many times I have given them the full VIN, AND I STILL GET THE WRONG PART?
More times than I like to think about, that's how many.

And what about all of the many, MANY, MANY times that the dealer parts guy tries to sell you a whole assembly when all you need is one small part, which is available on its own?

To be specific to this thread, I'd expect a dealer parts salesman to try an sell me a whole transmission line assembly that comes with the aforementioned plastic retainers, as opposed to just selling me the retainers on their own.
More likely than not, he'd say that the retainers are not available on their own, which is obviously not true.

Over the years, I've seen dealer parts departments do some really crooked stuff, like jacking up prices exponentially (regular occurrence), or refusing to sell inventory that they obviously have, but that's a whole other discussion.

I'm sure there are a lot of excuses for this behavior, but I can tell you that it doesn't breed confidence with the customer.

Lastly, I was being sarcastic about the bill of sale and paint code. I guess that one went over your head.

 

Ive installed numerous transmissions tht didnt have the plastic retainers. I just popped the line back in and all was good!

Those small wire clips are tricky as hell to remove. So once u install the clip and snap the line in they are pretty much good to go. Tht lil wire clip isnt gonna just pop out. Trust me!!

Sometimes u can spray a lil wd-40 on the fittings. Helps push them in easier. Especially in a tight spot!