Hi: I am new to this forum. I belong to the Rivperformance, Oldsmobile and Cadillac owner forums. I tried to post this question in the "techinfo" section but I was not allowed to post. Maybe because I am so new? Anyway, I just bought a 1990 Bonnie SSE. I am trying to figure out what are the two lines running parallel to the bottom of the radiator? One line has ruptured and is leaking an oily substance. Does this car have an engine oil line cooler? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I hope to offer friendly advice on this forum just as I have done on my other forums. Old car guys have to stick together.

If it's slowly weeping a bit of oil it could be a power steering line, much of a leak would rapidly bring the car to a halt if it was engine or transmission oil.
Does the A/C work?, or did it and now it doesn't?.

These cars didn't have engine oil coolers as standard, it's possible someone fitted an aftermarket one of course.

Roger.

PS, Welcome to the forum!.

Thanks Rustyroger. I got my service manual and learned that the SSE did have a factory installed oil cooler option. My 1990 SSE did have this option. Now I have to get the crank/no start issue resolved. I just bought the car and drove it about 15 miles before the catalytic converter detached at it's rear end. This is also when the crank/no start issue occurred. I had no issues for the 30 or so miles that I drove the car. I had to have the car towed to an unknown mechanic so I am at his mercy. I am thinking maybe the crank sensor? More to come.

I researched this for a while. Many of the pre '92 SSE cars I've seen had oil coolers and some did not.

The strange thing is that I could never find a code on an option sticker for it in an attempt to verify that it was an option or standard on some models or ???

Here are two examples:.



The one mystery code I could never find on the lower one is T2S.


GM also used two different filter adapters for these coolers. One in the pic is from a SSE and the other is from a '92 "98" I found in a salvage yard. The lines are unique to each.

Thanks for the information Carcheology. My car has the lower left pictured filter adapter. I have spent the last few months working at getting my Bonnie in good running order. So far I have completed the following: plugs, wires, battery, belt, IAC, fuel injectors (took care of rough running), crank sensor (took care of crank/no start), complete front strut assemblies, front rotors and pads and rear air shocks. I just fixed my left rear door latch issue. The door would not open so I had do salvage another latch mechanism as well as remove my door handle to un-freeze the lever that makes contact with the door handle button. The door issue was a pain in the ass but it is fixed. I am getting ready to take it to the body shop, then the headliner shop, then the stereo shop then re-install the entire interior that removed for cleaning. Whew.

Is it because of rust that it ruptured? That's what happened to mine. I have a 90 sse as well and when i tried to remove them out if the way for another repair, they would not soon out of the adapter without twisting so i got a regular adapter from the yard and just removed the lines altogether. Are you looking to keep the oil cooler? If so, you might be better off having some lines made custom at a hydraulic line shop. It's hard to find original ones that haven't decayed... Not impossible though. The only pain is they are in the way of removing the crank pulley. That's why if i went back to having the cooler attached i would just have some made. But I'm fortunate enough to live by a shop that can do it for a good price for me. Hope you get it fixed! Let us know what happens...

Dogluvr: You are correct, corrosion caused a small leak where the oil cooling lines run parallel to the bottom of the radiator. I just got my small brake line cutter, cut out about an inch to clean metal and used rubber hose w/clamps to repair it. It has been working great but I do have a back up plan. I salvaged a nice a nice pair of in/out lines. I got really lucky a few months back by finding two fully intact 90 bonnies at Parts Galore in metro Detroit. I grabbed a whole bunch of spare parts before they crushed the cars. I tried to get them to set aside the cars but had no luck. They had a lot of good parts left.

I just installed a new compressor and drier and got the a/c running. Now I just need to get the cruise control functioning. I salvaged a bunch of parts so I will start replacing things (servo, cruise brain box) to see if I get lucky. I replaced the combination control lever (turn signal/ wipe/cruise switch) with a new one but still do not have cruise.

You might want to check your evap core too. I just had to clean mine out and it made my air 5 times stronger and colder! There is a write up in tech info about the procedure. If you've never done it you won't even know what you're missing until you realize how much better the evaporator can work. Just a thought. That's cool you found those good parts not rusted in Detroit!