Cameron38

iTrader: (2)

I watched my mechanic replace mine from the bottom and he did it fast.. of course, it's a learning curve and he had replaced many over the years.

RXrick

Thank you KC. I thought so. I believe it was you that mentioned you had to remove the side plate of the radiator (that also held all the AC things) in order to remove the cooler or gain access to the upper lines (what was it?) If that is correct, I'm seeing that as a real reality.

This is a bigger mess than people realize because the left OC bracket (rubber) is broken and the right side is just hanging on. When I wrench on the fittings the whole OC tweaks, causing a lot of stress on right rubber bracket. If that breaks, then what?

RXrick

Thank you KC. I thought so. I believe it was you that mentioned you had to remove the side plate of the radiator (that also held all the AC things) in order to remove the cooler or gain access to the upper lines (what was it?) If that is correct, I'm seeing that as a real reality.

This is a bigger mess than people realize because the left OC bracket (rubber) is broken and the right side is just hanging on. When I wrench on the fittings the whole OC tweaks, causing a lot of stress on right rubber bracket. If that breaks, then what do I do?

RXrick

Thank you, Siraniko. That's what I thought, too. The angle had a purpose.

What people don't realize is I'm not sure this is all OEM. The lower hose/line broke many years ago and I had it repaired, and I didn't ask many questions. I don't know what was really done.

Which brings me to this point. A friend of mine came over and looked at my situation tonight. He said I need a 22mm and a 26mm wrench, which does not coincide with the 21mm and 23mm or 24mm sizes others recommended here.

But I think we were able to locate the source of the leak. It is coming from the threaded fitting into the lower extruded pipe. It doesn't look like the pipe itself is cracked. Unfortunately, the battery is dead, dead, dead and we jumped it with another but we were still unable to start the engine in order to see the dripping. But the cranking showed us signs of oil oozing out of the threaded fitting.

I'm so tempted to just cut the lines with a knife and be done with it. I saw Mazdatrix sells the braided racing hoses for $178 (for both.)

RXrick

Here is something interesting I read on Mazdatrix website:

"As of 3/2013, we are seeing the fittings glued in from the factory on the GSLSE oil cooler. This is good news if you are using stock hoses. If you are using aftermarket hoses, you will have to heat the glue with a torch to remove the fittings. We heat the fitting and cooler bung with a torch just until the glue starts to smoke and the fitting comes out easily. We have had no problem doing this, but please understand that Mazda didn't intend for the fittings to be removed and THIS WILL VOID MAZDA'S WARRANTY!"

Perhaps Mazda has recognized there is a problem here? And that is why they are gluing the fitting into place? Now I wonder if that is my problem. I wonder if I can just remove the adapter, wrap the threads with plumber's tape, then screw it back into place if that would stop the leak? Too simple, I know. But why is Mazda now gluing (sealing?) them into place?

Any thoughts?

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

Thats new to me as i have not noticed any glue since i've always use double wrench during removal and install. Well, if you want to remove the line and oc fitting as one unit, then disconnect the lines from the motor first; otherwise, it twisted or kinked line will guve you problems.

Also, i can assure you that the OC fitting is 21mm, not 22. I made a special tool for OC line using 7/8 for fitting and 1 1/16 or 1 1/8 wrench for hose end. However, if you dont grind the 7/8 to match the width of the fitting, it wont work.

RXrick

Yeah, I re-read a lot of the posts here and I saw that 7/8 comment and to be truthful I also noticed I could only fit that 21mm wrench part way, so I mistakenly assumed it was the wrong size. I will have to grind it down to make it more slender. But isn't there a proper wrench for that? What do Mazda mechanics use? A special slender-sized tool? Or maybe this is just the normal Japanese size?

Anyway, if I can convince myself to spend an extra few hundred dollars on this car (new hoses and battery) then your solution sounds the best — just disconnect the lines from the engine, which will solve a lot of headaches for me in the long run. Thanks for your helpful suggestions, Siraniko.

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

This whole set is only $20.

14 Pc Raised Panel Metric Combination Wrench Set

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

Or go to a swapmeet and buy old craftsman tool for dirt cheap. go to sears and trade them one or two at a time lol

RXrick

Saved this project for the holidays. It wasn't easy, for me anyway. I had a friend help me. Ended up removing the battery, battery tray, radiator, fan shroud and fan. One bolt holding the radiator was nearly impossible to reach. Had to remove the air filter and loosen that canister thing to get a wrench on it.

Ground down the 21mm wrench as many said to do. Removed the bottom cooler line at the cooler from underneath the car and the top line at the engine block (from above.)

Could not remove the cooler from above because of the AC stuff and could not remove it from underneath because the top line was still attached and would not pass the sway bar. So ended up removing the top line at the cooler after all (super tight fit) and then I was able to maneuver the cooler to remove it from underneath the car.

Now the cooler will be degreased, inspected and pressure tested for leaks. Ordered new braided hoses/lines from Mazdatrix. Thanks for reading and all of your help.

Slammed_GSL

iTrader: (14)

If you were more handy I would suggest making your own lines with the "push on" AN -10 fittings/hose, the braided lines are nice but you need to be careful.
Just my two cents.

RXrick

My friend cleaned up the cooler and pressure tested it for me. Using a dye, you can see where the inlet/outlet pipes/post are cracked.

Also, this is what my brackets/mounts look like. They look extremely similar (same?) as the bracket/mount here on atkinsrotary website:

atkinsrotary.com/store/79-82-12A-Rx7-Oil-Cooler-Mounts(dot)html

I know atkinsrotary list their mounts for 79-82 12A but I contacted them and they admitted sometimes images are not correct, so I guess you should never trust their images with their description. But don't these mounts on atkinsrotary.com look like mine (see photo below)? And mine came off of an'84 13B GSLSE.

Lastly, I purchased the braided lines from Mazdatrix. Slammed_GSL mentions to be careful. What should I be concerned about?

Thanks for reading.

craaaazzy

iTrader: (9)

when people tell u to be careful with installing the oil cooler, it typically refers to not over tightening it and cracking the inlet/outlet. but since yours are already cracked, you'll need to get that fixed first. i would recommend selling those adapters and getting some weld-on -10 adapters and have the cracks and adapters welded onto the cooler.

RXrick

Update. Just so you guys know that my little project has not gone unforgotten or fallen into the failure category. I will post more photos of the the installation and problem of removing the the OC line from the engine block soon.

LongDuck

Well, looks like you're making slow progress. The Racing Beat braided lines attach easily to the engine block, but know that there are aluminum crush washers that need to be used when installing the adapters to the block. The one on the rear housing will have some play to slide around due to the way the adapter is threaded, so try to get the aluminum washer centered as best you can before you crank it down - and it doesn't take a lot of effort to crush the aluminum just enough to get a good seal - maybe 20-30ft/lbs is all. Much more than that and you're risking crushing the aluminum enough for it to squeeze out around the adaptor and allow a leak.

Also, I'd like to see how your mounts are working with the new brackets. My cooler is a bit loose and I'm afraid one of the rubber bushings may have broken some time ago. Have the engine out now and cleaned the engine bay today as best I could. My -SE underside looks pretty much like yours! Take care,

RXrick

Here are some pics of the project.

As you see, the top braided line with the crushed washer worked like a charm. Unfortunately, I was unable to break the OC line free at the engine block — I even used a monkey wrench on it (and if you look close you can see the teeth marks of the wrench. So rather than create a possible nightmare (imagine breaking off the head and not the bolt...!) I decided not to replace the bottom OC line with the beautiful braided line and leave the bottom old (original?) OC line intact.

I have more pics. I will post later.

RXrick

Here are a couple more pics.

As you see, I decided to use the old existing bottom OC line b/c I could not break it free at the back of the engine block. Notice the beautiful crushed washers everyone talked about.

I bought the braided OC lines from Mazdatrix. I got the bottom and top lines, adapters for all, and the crushed washers.

Also included here is a pictorial showing just how much you need to grind that 21mm wrench down. Everyone talked about it but nobody could show what they were talking about so I decided to take a photo and post it here. Now you get an idea of just how much you need to grind it down.

Up next. Brackets.

RXrick

Before I show the brackets, I want to explain what was never very clear to me in this forum.

First of all, I could only remove the OC lines from the OC from under the car, and I had to remove the radiator to gain access to the lines. Removing the OC lines from above was impossible, and I removed the battery and battery tray and radiator side panel. The best and easiest way was to just remove the radiator and access the OC lines at the OC from under the car (someone here did mention this, btw.)

Secondly, I could not remove the OC from the top because of the AC line and other AC stuff that was mounted above it, (see photo) and I wasn't about to remove all that AC stuff...

I removed the OC from under the car, and it took a little maneuvering to get the brackets up and free in order to lower the OC. From under the car, I pushed the OC up and had to angle it almost at a 45° angle to bring it down and out (because of the brackets.)

RXrick

The brackets. I purchased the brackets from atkinsrotary (see photo). They come with the cooler but they did me a favor and sold me just the brackets. But they weren't cheap.

For LongDuck, the brackets from atkinsrotary are nice. I did have to put a lot of extra stress on one of them when I was installing the OC however. I hope I did not damage the rubber cushion in the process. This is my only concern, otherwise, they are wonderful.

One of my old brackets broke a long time ago and I didn't know it. The OC dropped and rested on the main cross bar. I'm guessing it was like this for many many months and maybe that is what eventually caused the major leaking = and that is when I noticed that the bracket had broken!

To fix that problem, I wrapped a plumber's strap around the cooler to hold it up (see photo). It worked great (but it didn't solve the oil leaking.) So you might want to think about that as a safety precaution if you think your rubber cushion has been damaged and you fear it will break soon.

Thanks for reading.

RXrick

100% success! Dry as a bone. Finally, no more leaks!!

I know you are all probably wondering why it took so long, but this project was one of several projects in my life and the least important. Now she is fixed and she purrs

Thanks for all your comments, suggestions, and help along the way.