Oil Cooler seals? Engine out or drop?

[dave944cab]

Have an oil leak from the oil cooler at the back of the engine. The Bently manual says you can do it by droping the engine 3 ". Has anyone done this? Dont really want to take the engine out?

looks like its hard to get the cover off from the top...

[Tigerrat]

First, be sure the leak isn't from the usual suspects on top of the engine. What engine is this? I haven't done it but think a search will turn up a couple who have. I think you would have to really get an honest 3" drop or more. Did mine and more w/ clutch job.

Ken

[Scott R]

I'm never a fan of a drop, that's just me, but I did this with a partial drop and it was a PITA. Besides, like Dave says you probably have other seals to replace anyway, may as well spend the extra time dropping it.

[john walker's workshop]

cooler seals rarely leak. look elsewhere.

[dave944cab]

I cleaned the engine fully and theree is a couple of drops at the very bottom of the oil cooler and running down to the lowest point on the engine. I know theree is a gasket for the breeder system goes on the back of the engine but i have check with a mirror and felt with my hand and theree is no oil around that area. THe breeder pipe is also good and not hard or cracked, must have been changed before.

From what I have learned the oil cooler seals are fairly common to leak, Is there some where else that can leak in this area.

[SteveM911]

I replaced my cooler on my SC with a partial drop and taking the rear wheel off.
a bit of a fiddle to get at from the top but do-able.
My leak was the cooler itself but I changed the seals as a matter of course.

[red 2.7]

Just did this job last weekend with only dropping right side of engine and removing the wheel. I was able to remove the cooler nuts with long socket extensions from the wheel well. To replace the cooler just grease the nuts into the socket so they don't fall out. I did the job in about an hour and a half. Good luck.

[Mysterytrain]

I had an odd ball oil leak on a new Behr cooler. I was sure that it was the oil seals that were the problem but the odd thing was if I cleaned the area and let the car sit overnight I would have a small puddle on the floor and a drip from the base of the cooler. Long story short, the leak was coming from the weld on the return oil tube on the bottom of the cooler. The tube is welded to the oil cooler casting and on my cooler there was a bad weld at the very top of the tube. I drained the oil, cleaned the area real well and then 're-welded' the seam with JB Weld. It might be something for you to check out along with the usual leakers at the top of the engine.

[Joe V]

Gentlemen,

Am I the only one that noticed that John Walker has over 10,000 posts here?
He's been working on P-cars for a couple of weeks now and knows his stuff.
I just did the cooler seals on my 25 year old C3.2 with 80k miles and they were in great shape. Listen to John and look deeper. Clean the area thoroughly and use some dry lubricant spray to pinpoint the source.

Good luck!

[Tigerrat]

Isn't there also an engine through bolt behind the cooler that also can leak a tiny amount?

[aj88cab]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

cooler seals rarely leak. look elsewhere.

A leak at either the oil thermostat or oil pressure light sender can cause oil to run thru the oil cooler and make it look like the oil cooler seals are leaking.

[unclebilly]

I replaced my oil cooler with the engine in the car last year. I lowered the rear of the engine 3" or so so I could get the the cover on top of the cooler. I did this on my 77 when it still had cis. I did this in an evening. it's not pleasant but it can be done. in my case, i suspected all the typical oil leaks like the temp sensors etc. it turned out that my cooler had a porous weld that would only leak under pressure. i put 100 psi of air pressure into it and oil foamed out of the weld.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by Joe V

Gentlemen,

Am I the only one that noticed that John Walker has over 10,000 posts here?
He's been working on P-cars for a couple of weeks now and knows his stuff.
I just did the cooler seals on my 25 year old C3.2 with 80k miles and they were in great shape. Listen to John and look deeper. Clean the area thoroughly and use some dry lubricant spray to pinpoint the source.

Good luck!

Joe, while John is very knowledgable, there are 3 people in this very thread (myself included) that have had leaky coolers. This is something you can'y easily diagnose with the cooler on the car.

You have to pull off the cooler to replace the cooler seals anyway. If the usual stuff isn't leaking, pulling off the cooler isn't a bad next step.

Scott.

[Joe V]

Scott,

We're on the same page. Just don't want dave944cab to tunnel vision in on the seals and miss the forest for the trees.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by Joe V

Scott,

We're on the same page. Just don't want dave944cab to tunnel vision in on the seals and miss the forest for the trees.

I totally agree with you, there is so much that can leak in that area, rocker seals, thermostat, breather, idiot lite switch.

[dave944cab]

Thanks for all your help, and i have an open mind to what might be leaking but it does look like the cooler. I will do them and see what happens. Thanks for all your help.Its all good

Dave