Transmission Hose Leak By Harmonic Balancer

I was driving today and as I pulled off of a light I felt slight hesitation. I thought "that's weird. I hope I can make it back without problems".

Well, it shifted normally on the highway. I drove about 10 miles and then came to a light. I came off the light without any weird problems. The next light, however, and it would not move. I had to rev it really high for it to start to move, all the while all kinds of idiots are honking behind me.

I pulled over and popped the hood and the engine is covered in an oily substance. Of course, I think it's transmission fluid. But I have no idea where it's coming from. It's all over the engine, top to bottom.

I get a Lyft to the auto parts store and buy a few quarts of fluid and a funnel. I pour 2 in with the engine running and see that the hose on the bottom going to/from the transmission from the radiator has a fountain of fluid spouting into the fan, and it's coating everything in fluid. Everything. I wipe down the hose and see that that bottom hose has frays in it. I see the movement in the hose, and it's completely possible that the hose was rubbing against the harmonic balancer area of the engine and it frayed a spot into the hose. So I did the best I could. I grabbed a new roll of electrical tape and wrapped the area in about 5 good layers of back and forth over several inches before and after the fray and put my last 3 quarts of fluid into the transmission so I could drive it home.

I made it home, and the leak held off.

I need to replace this hose, or cut the fray out and splice a repair into it.

I can't really find what this hose is called, or the part number.

Any ideas what the part number is?

I'm assuming you're referring to the flexible rubber hoses running under the harmonic balancer and not the hard tubing lines that go in to the radiator or run along the oil pan of the engine. You didn't say the year of the van, but I'm not sure if it matters when discussing the transmission. Here's a photo of a 2004 OM647 engine van. From the 2004 parts manual, you're talking about item 9 or item 13. 9 runs along drivers' side of engine under the balancer, 13 comes from tube on passenger side of engine. Its hard to tell from the description if these would come as just the rubber hose or if they'd include the tubing also.

Item 9 is Dodge PN 5117856AA, MB PN 901 271 01 96
Item 13 is Dodge PN 5127830AB, MB PN 220 997 16 52

I'm going to take photos when I get home. It was too oily where it broke down to get down with a photo and I had to rush back to work.

Glad to see electrical tape got ya home!

This should also help: http://europarts-sd.com/transmission_2.asp

Photo 1 and 2 below are of the hose I need, viewed from the left side (USA driver's side) on my 2006 Sprinter 2500 RV that is not busted.

Photo 3 is of the same hose viewed from the left side on my 2006 Sprinter 2500 work van that I had to tape to get home.

It looks like I can unthread the hose leading from a metal line just by the radiator on the right side of the van, and I follow the line several feet to the left side of the transmission where it has turned into a metal line before the bend from the radiator to the transmission.

None of the parts in the diagram in post 2 look like they'd work.

I took a photo of my clean hose. I can't get the entire number, but it looks like it ends in 271. Maybe 6271. I measured the rubber portion and it's almost 17 inches exactly.

So, I'd say it's probably this hose, based on my 3 options: http://europarts-sd.com/hose-transmissioncooler2002-2006-1.asp

I don't know if that part ends in 271 though, so I don't know if I'm correct with identification.

Item (9) in Doug's post does have a 271 in its MB part number (which is what would be on the hose)
901 271 01 96

MB does put spaces in their numbers, and just beyond the range of your photo you can see the next portion beginning. And it sure looks like a "01" before the 271 and quite a bit like a "0" following it.

--dick

Your hard lines don't look too bad for rust. Even so, when dealing with the fittings that tie into the plastic radiator tanks be ve-wry, ve-wry careful. It is sometimes necessary to segment some of the metal parts to avoid damage to the plastic parts.

vic

Well it was a 901 271 01 96.

I took off the hose on my RV and swapped it with my work van. While I was at it, I pulled my drain plugs on the pan and torque converter and filled with a few quarts of Shell ATF that I had sitting in a box for my RV. I was going to do my RV transmission fluid, so I just happened to have this around.

I didn't drop the pan or change the filter since I only have about 3,000 miles on the last change. By not doing so, I overfilled the transmission. Oh well. It's not driving bad, so I'll see where it's really at when I can get another reading.

In the meantime, I need to order another hose.

And I need item #12 in the line drawing in post 2. I need 2 of those. That's why my hose ended up on my harmonic balancer.

What is #12's part number?

Item 12 is Dodge PN 5125878AA, MB PN 000 995 26 14

Note that all the parts manuals and service manuals are available at the following link: The parts manuals give Dodge Part Numbers, but then there's a cross reference sheet that provides the MB Part Numbers

http://diysprinter.co.uk/reference