help with collapsible oil return tubes

[ty901]

guys;
i bought these and want to replace the seals prior to installation. i trust the end seals are OEM and readily available, but i'm wondering about the O-rings in the middle. any help appreciated.
thanks!
jerry

[Wil Ferch]

Problem is these aren't factory nor factory clones...they're some aftermarket part and guess what ?.....ta da.....O-rings seem to be impossibly hard to find for these !

End seals should be Viton Green or Black....not pink....so the end seals aren't OEM either......

Sorry...

Wil

[Hugh R]

Whatever you end up using, use silicone o-ring grease not oil to make the center o-ring slide, work it in good. They should slide with two fingers. o-ring grease on the ends as well. Shoving them in is a pain, try putting hose clamps on for leverage.

[Oh Haha]

Hugh, What is the difference in oil vs silicone grease? Would light bulb grease work?
I am having a he&* of a time trying to get new tubes to expand once in place. I am about ready to send it off to a shop.
Thanks for the help

[vash]

wayne, i tried both oil and silicone, dow #4 (?). and the silicon is slippier. it made mine a no brainer. i got two tubes of the stuff i plan on willing to my offspring. great stuff. put it on the inners and outers. as for the tubes showed above, i would start off with new ones. i tore some of the inners and i never found any replacements.

[PORSCHEGOBOY]

just completed replacing my seals on aluminum expandle tubes purchased seals from paragon pelican always my first choice but as of now they do not have the seals for the aluminum tubes

pete
86 g red cab

[Oh Haha]

Man, I hate projects like this! Supposed to be a quick little task but turns into a freakin' night mare. Listened to my wife and took a break from it.After junior went to bed I went back out and got soem assembly lube as I couldn't find the Slyglide anywhere tonight. Took a deep breath and got the first tube on in about a half hour with just a little swearing. Next one was done in about 15 minutes. Both tubes are nicely seated and the circlips went right back in place. Ruined two of the fort tubes I purchased but at least the passenger's side is done now. I tackle the others next year. Thanks for tips again , guys.

[gerard vaglio]

Yea, I did all mine about a year ago. No leaks since but they are very difficult to expand in a small space. It takes a lot of strength to push the two halves apart, even when lubricated, and in my opinion, it can't be done by hand. The thing that worked best for me is a little difficult to discribe but I'll try.

Spray them with silicone, then use a screw driver and or a large wrench to get some leverage against something under there, enough leverage to push them open into position. You may have to use the screw driver as a leaver against the engine block to move things an inch, then change position of screw driver and find another way to get leverage to push further, then find another position to get them to seat. You may have to use a long wrench positioned against the garage floor and the engine and then place the screw driver against that for leverage. Also, a large wrench with an open end that fits the tube helps push and pull without crushing the tube. Place a little cloth or something between the screw driver and the engine block so you don't scratch the engine. I hope this is some what understandable.

It takes about 15 minutes a tube once you get the feel of it, and once they seat they don't seem to leak, at all.

Hang in there, it is doable.

[yelcab1]

Originally posted by ty901
guys;
i bought these and want to replace the seals prior to installation. i trust the end seals are OEM and readily available, but i'm wondering about the O-rings in the middle. any help appreciated.
thanks!
jerry

I have the exact same ones on my car and when I messed with them, I had the same problem with the orings. They are very hard to find. What I did was to go down to a wholesale rubber supplier, 2 in my neighborhood, they matched up the orings, and ... gave them to me. THe order was too small to write up. Good luck

[a911]

I got them all on in 45 minutes. I came to my wrench with all possible advices from here and i guess warning him to wat could go wrong take longer then instaling them. We didnt even remove heat exchanger and driver side took litlle longer then others. I even have 1 spare if something went wrong. We just grease it and it was really no problem. They are cheap, althou PO bought just o-rings but they were for solid tubes so we didnt use them. Guess its easier not to take head off to replace them with solid ones.

[Nine9six]

The O-rings can be cheaply sourced from McMaster-Carr.
I understand if you put hose clamps on both male and female portions of the tube, you can use the hose clamp screw housings as pry points to expand, and seat the tubes. This way you will not run the risk of crushing the tubes as trying to do the job with a set of channel locks.

[sammyg2]

If you use DOW CORNING 111 SILICON GREASE you can expand the tubes with a couple of fingers. BTDT
if you use something else, get ready for the fight of your life.
This is a perfect example of a shortcut taking longer.

O-rings are designed to seal. They do that by sealing tightly against a metal wall. If you use oil, or assembly lube, or whatever, the o-ring will scrape it away and take a set against the wall. it will grab hard because that is what it is supposed to do.
For some reason, it can't do that on installation with 111 grease.
In my shop we install a lot of o-rings. We use either parker o-ring lube or 111 grease. I prefer the latter. I've been using the stuff for over 20 years and haven't found anything better.

[ty901]

guys;
thanks for all the great information. i dug up this post as the time draws near to chase oil leaks. lines and hoses are first then expandable oil return tubes.
i have sourced Dow Corning 111 (now called...) Valve Lubricant and Sealant through www.applied.com as recommended @ the Dow Corning web site. even more nice is the fact that you can buy this product over the counter without having a resale number or purchasing in case lots. when was the last time you tried to buy Tectyl ;-)
i'll post again after my new tubes are installed.
thanks again
best
jerry

[len911]

A number of years ago, I searched for a DC111 replacement... I found it here and bought 1 pound of it... Probably enough for a lifetime. Basically the same stuff based on spec sheets. Was reasonable priced.

http://www.sspinc.com/prodspecs/prodspecs.cfm?spec=1212specs

Lou

[Driver Ed]

I replaced a few leaking oil return tubes on my 911 a few years ago and I just used new motor oil to lube the inner O-rings. Big mistake! As others have said, it makes it almost impossible to expand the tubes that way.

Having said that, the method I finally arrived at seemed to work well for me and it's almost the same as Gerard Vaglio's. I used two large open ended wrenches that were just big enough for the tube but smaller than the flanges at the ends. Then I used a block of wood about the same length as the tube between them, parallel with the tube in a letter H configuration (the wrenches are the uprights of the H and the block of wood is the cross piece.) Then I used a C-clamp on the bottom ends of the wrench and as I tightened the clamp, the wrenches levered against the wood to expand the tube. Not pretty but it worked.