MRGSL-SE

My oil cooler was leaking in the first place, but just leaking (dripping) droplets of oil,

12/15/2002 Sunday yesterday, I removed the old oil cooler lines and the fittings. I placed new fittings and the Stainless Steel oil braided line on it. I started the car and that Sucker poured oil like a broken faucet from the oil cooler and the fitting connection the lower connection and the top was also leaking oil but not as bad as the bottom one. I tighten everything in the torque setting Racing Beat had said 300-360 inch/pounds = 30 pounds foot/pounds. The connection to the engine block was perfect (no leak), but its the oil cooler connection thats F*cking me up,

I was working on the car on my uncle's house and had to drive 18 miles at 12:00 am back home with the oil level light on, I had to make some stop to put some oil and that caught 2 police officers attention and "ALMOST" gave me a ticket, but I they were nice enough to recognize I had a problem and saw my dirty hands and dirty everything. I could actually see the trail of oil while I was driving through the mirror.

Should I get the damn thing welded first

Or should I get this coupling that tightens the ends first.

OR Should I get the damn thing welded first and then put those couplings on?

thanks

GatorRX

A. Did you use NEW crush washers?
B. Did you use teflon sealant on the fittings that go in the cooler?
C. Check for hairline cracks in the cooler fitting bosses. Very common, and very hard to see....

cjf

iTrader: (1)

i feel your pain...you really have to be careful about how much you tighten the line to the oil cooler.....not sure where you are leaking from..the cooler or the cooler/fitting area?? if cooler....you tightened to much and caused any cracks to get worse...good luck..pain in the butt....I know...been there ,done that...proably need to weld the cooler.....

zookeeper

I'm voting for the cracked bosses. Had a small leak before installing new lines? Now worse? Sounds like hairline crack[s] was aggravated when you installed the new fittings. (harder fix)

'Course, could be crush washers/seals... (easier fix)

MRGSL-SE

No I used the same washer , I'll get new washers though.

Is it the same white Teflon tape that you use on plumbing stuff, the white tape that goes around the thread?

I'm giving a welder a call this weekend.

I love my GSL-SE, but this car just won't stop with the list of stuff that I have to get for it..... But I just love my baby too much for me to let it go.

Thanks

Marques

cjf

iTrader: (1)

ahh, your a true lover of the "7"...you a good man...haha

MRGSL-SE

I was wondering if theirs a STAINLESS STEEL OIL COOLER for the GSL-SE. Or does it have to be Custom made to have one?

85RX7GS

iTrader: (1)

Never heard of such a cooler from Mazda for the SE.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Aren't all the stock mazda oil coolers aluminum? I know the 79 one I have is.

DriveFast7

iTrader: (1)

the mazda stockers are aluminum. why would anyone want one made of stainless?

aftermarket oil coolers are available, but not cheap and they don't cool as well as mazda stockers.

with some changes to fittings and oil lines you can get a 2nd gen oil cooler in there if you really wanted to. they're more easily found at boneyards.

or you can try to find an old REPU or Rx-4 oil cooler. they had 13b's and the fittings will work fine as-is. mounting is a little different though.
-bp-

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Stainless steel's coefficient of heat transfer is so much lower than aluminum's, you'd need a cooler with between five and seventeen times the surface area to get equivalent cooling.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/th...als-d_858.html

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

Wow..back from the dead!

GORacing

I have found that the inlet/outlet bosses on the 1 st gen and earlier Mazda oil coolers are prone to cracking from years of heat cycling, road vibration and pressure pulses from the oil pump, typically the cracks are hard to see with the painted oil coolers, but the unexplained drip are a tattle tail sign... these cracks are usually further aggrivated by the enevidable snugging up that most people try first, which only widens the fissure... at this point welding is the only long term repair.
Suggestion, since you are going to the AN10 size fittings and lines, source out an AN815-10 union from a speed shop (Russell performance fittings are basically pretty AN hardware), local airport or from on-line, cut it in half, have your welder repair the crack(s) in the bosses and then weld a half to each of the bosses, now you do not have to worry about new washers or finding a metric thread chasing tool to fix the internal threads after the weld repair (which if done correctly, will penetrate through and trash the threads anyway), and since the boss is now better supported, the coolers service life should be greatly lengthend... now you can sell the fittings or use them on another project...

orion84gsl

iTrader: (5)

I have my buddy Sam (dj55b) currently welding new AN fittings in place of the coolers bungs, since my other cooler has started leaking pretty bad. Second time I've had to switch them. Hopefully when hes done I wont have to do it again.

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

Just upgrade to a FC oil cooler IF you have a tall radiator or a GSL-SE. No one will know the difference. ITs that simple.

themayor500

Like most gsl se owners i had the telltale oil drip, one of my mounts for the cooler broke and the thing hung from the line causing the aluminum fitting to crack. I talked to a few welders and most of them didnt want to touch the aluminum so i bought a new cooler off ebay, when i got it it too had once been cracked but had a repair i hadn't thought of. The previous owner had put on a short piece of steel pipe that just fit around the aluminum fitting to force the threads back together and welded it into place. I have not had a problem with it and it added some new rigidity to the cooler fittings.

RXn407

teflon is only for NON- AN style fittings. AN style require no tape. Crush washers maybe re-used but it is best to replace. All you would have to do to check is fill w/ oil have a friend turn on car and see where the drip is right? then from there cclean All w/ grease so you can look for crackes and be sure where you diagnose the problem that you dont call it wrong and spend more money on a problem that it never was.