Oil cooler how to check?, probably leaky oil cooler Options

[Jacco]

Hi,
Just a quistion for you. Our 914 was leaking large amounts of oil, I suspected the oil seals between cooler and block.
Last weekend I had time to work on it so I pulled the engine and tore it down. But the seals seemed fine but the cooler was an oily mess.
Luckily we had another block laying around with a known good cooler replaced it and the seals.

But here's the question, can any (VW) carshop check an oilcooler for leaks
Is this oil cooler the same as the later type 1 oil cooler? looks the same but type 1 unit is probably smaller, right?

that's about it, need to get the car checked for admission on the road so I can (legally) drive it around again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/boldblue.gif)

cheers,
Jacco de Haan
Delft, the Netherlands

[Mark Henry]

Sometimes it's the oil pressure switch, which is just above the cooler. At it's worst this would be a drip every couple of seconds.

Another cause is if the cooler is way over-torqued it can bend the cooler, they can also crack but this is not a big problem. If the seals were just leaking a little they may still "look" in good shape, even though they were leaking.

I've seen seals blow (on a type 1) from a stuck relief valve. This car had been sitting for years. A blown cooler seal dumps massive amounts of oil.


It's the same cooler but it has 2 more rows.

[Jacco]

thanks,
It did drip very regularly. The oil cooler was only messy on the bottom side. So no oil coming from the pressure switch I think (hope)
Untill now it has not started leaking again, so I'm pretty sure it was the cooler.
hmm better not hook up a type 1 cooler then (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

thanks for the reply

Greets
Jacco de Haan
Delft, the Netherlands

[Jake Raby]

I made a special pressurized canister for checking this..... Send me your cooler and I'll flush it and pressure check it with the fixture... I can hit them with 120PSI and watch for leak down with my apparatus.

[TonyAKAVW]

I had the same symptoms with my oil cooler. The switch was fine, the seals were good, it turned out that the cooler was bad. I took the cooler to a local machine shop and they did a pressure test and found leaks.

-Tony

[Jacco]

hey guys,

thanks for the replies.
Jake thanks for the offer, but I think it would be pretty expensive to send it over, me being in the Netherlands and all (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) (I will keep it in mind though)
I hope the car stays oil leak free!

greets,
Jacco de Haan
Delft, the Netherlands

[Jake Raby]

oops, didn't notice that...

[Jeroen]

Hey Jacco,

I think you can have your oilcooler checked at a radiator shop

Good luck

cheers,

Jeroen

[Jacco]

Hey Jeroen,

a radiator shop.... not familiar with those kind of places... but I'll have to look around then.
It's no rush but I have to know some time...

greets
Jacco