I've been having a slight engine oil leak since last fall. The leak is getting worse now and needs attention. I jest had my valves adjusted at a local shop and asked the owner to look for the source of the leak. My suspicion was confirmed that the leak was coming from the oil cooler. Apparently there are seals where the cooler attaches to the engine, and that is what is leaking. The shop wants to pull the engine to fix this leak, but I'm thinking of trying to fix it myself. Is it possible to get to the oil cooler and replace the seals by removing engine tin, or dose the engine have to come out?

I did mine with the engine in (replacing the seals). was a royal pia. Do a search, I think Brad made mention that u can unscrew the long bolts that secure it and do it that way.
Pelican has a tech article on the method I tried. GL

I did it too. I thought it was tough. Then I tried replacing my oil cooler with the engine in the car... it made the seal replacement look like a snap!

Its not too bad. It just takes some patience to get those 3 10mm bolts off. Make sure you keep the 3 thick aluminum washers too. You dont want to crush the oil cooler when you reinstall.

to me... its easier to drop the motor....

thats me tho

The problem is you have to access the motor from the bottom. So, unless you have an engine stand, its going to be tough to access the bottom of the motor with the engine on the floor or jack. I sort of use the car on jackstands as my "engine stand". Ya dig?

why not just pull the front fan shroud and not worry about access

my .02

I have limited tools, and no engine pull experience. Leaving the engine in is a much simplier option for me. Someday I'll invest into the tools needed for pulling a 914 engine. For now, if I can leave the engine in and do it myself I'd be stoked. I looked over the Pelican article, sounds doable. I'll have to look at my haynes manual. There might be some more illustrations & instructions.

Here's the club thread on how to do it.....


Oil cooler seal replacement.


It's in the classics... read it first. It's not as hard as it looks.

You'll find that once you loosen the cooler it will start dripping oil. I like to pull the cooler free, let it drip overnight and finish up the next day.

No one has yet to suggest it may be the oil pressure switch, have you taken a close look to be sure its not?

Pull the tin off the top right side and see what you got. Could be the oil pressure switch