So I had a trans line leaking a few years ago, and a shop replaced the metal line with a rubber hose and a warning that it may not last due to the hose rubbing against the bumper. It seemed to have fixed my leak for the last few years.

Lately, my Jeep has been leaking again from under the bumper. I took it in assuming it was the rubber hose, but they told me that my trans cooler is cracked and it needs to be replaced. The interesting part is that they said the trans cooler is part of the same unit as the air conditioning condenser coil. I'm looking at almost $1000 to have the cooler replaced, and part of that cost is due to the fact that they have to drain my AC and pressurize the system once it's all back together.

Does this all seem normal?

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2005 Black KJ Sport CRD,
GDE Full Torque ECO TUNE, GDE Transmission ECO Tune,
Samco British Racing Green Hoses
Build Date 1/05
200k miles.
Original Owner

Yes, that sounds about right.
But...

Is the cooler cracked or is it the fittings that connect the lines to the cooler?
If its the fittings, someone once figured out how to fix those. You'd have to do a search to find it.

By far the easiest and most cost effective solution is to forget about replacing the stock cooler and just install an aftermarket one mounted somewhere in the grille.
Lost of folks here have done that with great success.

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U.S. Army Retired

Ditto to what flash said. Tranny cooler can be in bottom of radiator or AC condenser - on the CRD it happens to be in the bottom of the AC condenser. Regardless of location if the cooler is busted and cannot be fixed by a radiator shop there is ZERO reason to replace the "thing" which the cooler is part of. Just spend ca. $50 and a bit of DIY energy to mount an aftermarket tranny cooler behind the grill.

See the following how toos. If any links are broken or pics missing email me for a copy.
http://liberty.eurekaboy.com/transcooler.htm
http://colorado4wheel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=45
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=62013&p=686385&hilit=cooler#p686385
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=69453&p=742547#p742547

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Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs

Detach fittings at transmission cooler, clean fittings, clean grommets etc.

Re=attach fittings to transmission cooler.

This solved my transmission fluid leak at those spots.

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2006 Liberty Limited CRD, Deep Beryl Green, Yeti tune, Arp studs, new cams, rockers, lifters, TB. "Green Monster"
2005 Liberty Sport CRD, Deep Beryl Green, GDE Hot Tune, ARP studs. "Rocket"
1982 Fiat 124 Spider Convertible. "Fiona"

You guys are great. Thanks so much for the advice. Saving me tons of cash.

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2005 Black KJ Sport CRD,
GDE Full Torque ECO TUNE, GDE Transmission ECO Tune,
Samco British Racing Green Hoses
Build Date 1/05
200k miles.
Original Owner

I'm sure you can use the $950 on something.

PS once you swap in the aftermarket tranny cooler don't forget to top the system up with ATF+4 as you will have lost whatever amount should be in the OEM cooler although I have no clue how much.

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Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs

This is what I would do.

Its very common for the cooler lines to rub through/ rust through right where they go over the core support underneath the radiator. They attach to the cooler from the front. Its a bit hard to see all of this with the bumper/ facia in your way.

My 06 had the rust through problem and was puking trans fluid at a pretty good rate.. ( transgo kit with higher line pressure didnt help me)

I did the high pressure trans / hydraulic hose fix and double high pressure hose clamped each line on both ends. I reccomend wrapping the rubber line in some other sort of hose or protector so it does not rub through on the core support, as that could be your issue, and it could just be hose that needs replaced.

If it is inded the cooler.. go with aftermarket seprate setup like suggested, it will be far cheaper than replacing the stock unit/ messing with the A/C.

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05 CRD Limited GDE Hot Tune, EuroTC, ARPs, Full EGR Del, IDParts Hoses, Etecno 7v GP, OME 790 Bilstein 916front, OME948 OME N132Lrear, JBA A-Arms, 245/75/16 Duratracs+Moabs, Renegade roof lights, Curt Front Hitch, BTF Kryptonite Diff, JCR Stage2 Rails, SkidRow Skids, HDS Tstat,

Sold 06 CRD Limited K&N, EHM, ORM, EuroTC, TransgoKit, Samcos