Oil Cooler Removal- Pull Engine?

dharder · 03-07-2003, 06:08 PM

Do I need to pull the engine to remove the oil cooler??

Dave at Pelican Parts · Dave at Pelican Parts's Garage

Pretty much. You can replace the oil cooler seals without pulling the engine (see the tech article elsewhere on this site) but replacing the cooler itself just about requires removing the engine.

You can evidently take the engine tin off the engine with it still in the car, but I sure wouldn't want to. And pulling the fan shroud off is not gonna happen without removing the engine.

--DD

Peter_Hinkle · 03-07-2003, 07:52 PM

Dave, I have removed the cyl covers numerous times with an engine in a car. That was, of course, with a carbed car. It wasn't really bad at all. The hardest ones to take off with the engine in the car are the front two peices. They can take some `fine tuning`...peter

Dave at Pelican Parts · Dave at Pelican Parts's Garage

Wow, Peter, I'm impressed! I've looked and looked, and didn't see an easy way to get the top tins off. Actually, the left-side one is the worst one to my eye--I have a tough time with it even with the engine out! Trying to get it around the dipstick tube and the cable for the thermostat is a bit of a challenge.

Still, I'm pretty sure there isn't enough room to pull the fan shroud off the front of the motor. And the shroud is very much in the way of trying to get the cooler off.

You might be able to move it forward enough to get some vise-grips on the studs that hold the cooler on and remove it that way, but that sounds like more of a pain than it's worth...

--DD

dharder · 03-08-2003, 06:04 AM

Thanks you guys. Out the engine will come. I was asking for a friend of mine that has a '75 FI 2.0L that suspects his oil cooler.

Tonyakavw · 03-08-2003, 07:39 AM

I just pulled my engine for the same reason (well okay a couple weeks ago I guess). Anyway, I thought the oil cooler was bad. I still need to take it down to get it tested to 85 psi (as per the manual) but I did a little test at home with a bike pump and no bubbles came up. I did however notice that the pressure sender had an issue... It had been replaced about a year ago and whoever did it left some black plastic wrapping or something on it. It ended up between the engine block and the sender, allowing oil to leak out, progrssievely worse as the plastic became harder and more brittle. So I would check the pressure sender twice before pulling the engine. Actually take it off and inspect it carefully. I could have avoided an engine drop possibly by doing that. It is a good time for me to do the clutch and a fwe other things though, so its not a total waste.

-Tony