pain in the arse...changed my oil cooler seals, while engine in the car...how tight? Options

[jim912928]

Well, this was a pain in the arse. I started at 4pm hoping it would take about 2 hours...finished at 10pm (ok, 1 trip to the hardware store for some washers....ate dinner). Using the open end wrench to put the top seal on was easy...but the angle didn't work for the bottom..that one took about 30 minutes to get in there and finally used a hack saw blade with grease. And getting to that blind nut...what a pain!

Anyhow..it's all back together and I couldn't find any info on tightening specs in the factory manuals...so the blind nut (I assume this is just to keep the cooler stationary) I tightened up tight using a tiny wratchet...and the two nuts over the seals i tightened with a small wrench just till I felt hard resistence using one finger to push the wrench up with. Was that good enough?

Hopefully I leak less now. The new seals didn't look exactly like the old ones. The ones in there seemed to have a larger edge on one side versus the other. The new ones looked the same on both sides.

Anyhow...how tight should those seal nuts be?

[ThinAir]

Sounds about right to me. My technique for placing the seals is to use some wheel bearing grease on both sides so that they stick to my screwdriver and then stick to the case when I slide the screwdriver away.

If it still leaks oil in the same area, then you know the problem wasn't the seals. It's very common for folks to think it's the oil cooler seals when it is really the oil pressure sender on top of the engine by the dizzy.

[JoeSharp]

Jim: Somehow you've struck a chord in the back of my memory. Tell me it dosen't leak. Please.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

[jim912928]

Well...I'll take it out tomorrow for a good drive and see if it still leaks. I didn't see any oil around the base of the oil pressure sender...but the oil cooler was dripping with oil all around the "fins". I'll let you all know tomorrow!

[type47]

i "just" installed the cooler on my engine but it's out of the car. i found a torque spec of 5 ft-lbs if i remember correctly.

[joeav8tor]

I just replaced my oil cooler seals for the heck of it when the engine was out of the car..a lot easier this way...you want to tighten the bolts tight enough so there isnt a leak, but not too tight to crush the seals...I know this sound tough...I originally saw oil at the bottom of my oil cooler, but found that my pressure switch had oil leaking from it, so I replaced it...I just replaced the oil cooler seals, pushrod tube seals because the engine was out of the car...it is a good idea to change the pressure switch...which is just south of the dizzy.
Joe (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/flag.gif)

[jim912928]

Update....not "spraying oil like before"..literally my heat exchangers were covered with oil...and that stinks! I am still getting a few drips from somewhere in the same vicinity. Oil filter has some drops dripping from it so It's coming from above. From the top of the engine lid I can see the oil pressure sensor and I don't see fresh oil around it. Anything else in that vicinity? I also can see two "wet" oil marks on my engine support bar just in front of the cooler. So, it's definitely coming from the front passenger side somewhere.

[ThinAir]

The oil pressure switch can be hard to detect. Sometimes it just seeps oil. I would recommend using some brake cleaner to clean up the sender and the area around it that you can see through the sheet metal, then go back and check it later to see if it is no longer clean.

The other thing on the front of the engine that can leak is the oil galley plugs as they loosen with age. There is one that is just above the oil filter that I lost on a very cold morning when my oil pressure was up. In hindsight I should have known that this is where my oil loss was coming from, but at the time it wasn't obvious to me. It's very dangerous if you blow out an oil galley plug - especially if you ignore the green light and drive it because you are sure you've got oil! (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wacko.gif) Wanna guess how I know that?

The ultimate solution for a loose oil galley plug is to have them removed, tapped, and plugged with threaded plugs. This is normally done when the engine is being overhauled so that you don't have to worry about metal shavings, but in a pinch it's been done very carefully with the engine still together (but not by me).

[jim912928]

Thanks...I'll clean up around the sender. I don't loose enough that a galley plug would be gone...doesn't mean it's not seaping though I assume (if they can do that). Won't be able to get back to it until this weekend...until then thanks for all the insights!

[ThinAir]

QUOTE (jim912928 @ Jun 15 2005, 11:41 AM)

I don't loose enough that a galley plug would be gone...doesn't mean it's not seaping though

It certainly isn't missing in your case - you'd be missing all your oil in a matter of minutes. Yes, they can seep - that's the sign that I missed. If the galley plugs are seeping oil, then it is a sign that they are loosening and that disaster is only a matter of when, not if.

There are more galley plugs on both ends of the engine, but the one by the oil filter bracket is the one that I blew out and I understand that it is the most common one to fail because of the oil pressure that it holds back.

[jim912928]

If this is the case on a seaping galley plug...can I assume you can't get to this one with the engine in the car? Can I see it from down below?

[ThinAir]

Jim -

I don't think you can see this from below the car. I looked at my old case, then crawled under the car, and I wasn't even sure that I could see the area where it was. For sure, you can't work on it without pulling the engine and removing the fan housing.

I know this picture is blurry, but I hope it helps some. Looking from under the car it looked like the lower plug is "behind" the engine mount, with a small space between the face of the engine and the mount. But every time I looked at the case and then crawled under the car to look at the same area, I became confused about whether I was really looking at the same place.

I think you can at least know if it's seeping if you know for sure that the oil pressure sender and oil cooler seals are not leaking and you've cleaned it up. I would use brake cleaner to spray around the oil pressure sender and be generous so that it runs down the engine and drips off the bottom. Then go back and spray this area from below to get it clean. Next watch the area to see if you still have oil in the area of the the galley plug.

I hope this helps. Sorry the photos are so fuzzy. I would have shot a picture from below the car, but I'm not on a lift so I don't have enough room to photograph it. I'll have to get Andy to show me how to take pictures!

[ThinAir]

Crap! You can change a picture if you've added one to begin with, but you can't add a picture after the fact. No way to save face! (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/sad.gif)