I apologize for opening an old thread, but this is right along with what I'd like to talk about. 1998 Ford Windstar 3.8L.
There was a line leak, of course in the back up above the rack that blew fluid all over the cat. I thought it was the pressure hose, but after removing it, it looked good. In order to remove it, I had to remove the low pressure line first, to get up at the nut which is in a gap that allows only an inch or two of movement with a wrench. I pulled out the low pressure hose and saw the pin hole. It was easily repairable and I looked forward to completing this not so fun task, being on the ground and feeling like a stuffed sausage with Gumby arms.
I got the power line lined up and threaded and went to start the low pressure line fitting. For the life of me, I couldn't get it to start. Then after 1/2 hour of trying, it finally started, or so I thought. I started tightening it with a wrench and just when I thought it was almost all the way in........... It came out. With some interior/female threads from the rack hole. It looked to be not alot, but some metal threads were on the male portion of the line. From that point on, it turned ugly. Hands all banged up and temper starting to flare. I couldn't get the nut to start after trying for an hour.
Obviously, I'm not going to pull the rack out as that would make a mountain out of a molehill. So the only other option is to get a tap and try to thread the hole to allow the low pressure line to start threading. I measured the male fitting on the line and got approximately 5/8" by 20NPT. Does that size sound right? Any other ideas you might have for me to try also? Thanks for the response.