I'm about to tackle this little job to fix a leaky hose or bung (not sure which yet). I wanted to find some information on the removal, but I didn't see anything when I searched except for some write ups where the car was already apart. Anybody got any advice or suggestions for me when I do this? Does the front bumper need to come off? Radiator?

Thanks!

 

i did mine by removing the driver side tire and black plate under the carriage (engine)

 

Can you get to the whole oil cooler that way? I was looking at it, and it seems to be buried in there really well. I hate to have to remove the radiator to do this, but that was looking like the easiest way to me.

 

its been a long time, but i think you take off the undertray and its kind of right there.

 

It's hard to get to even with the under tray removed because the hoses straddle the sway bar.

 

This will help:

 

I am assuming that its an SA thing to have the oil cooler dangle below the radiator?

 

They did that on '79-'82.

 

I put in SS lines and the best advice I can give is, to purchase the correct wrenches for each line's connector, the two to the oil cooler are the same size but there is also an adapter (I think) that the lines hook up to so buy that wrench as well.

Same thing for the engine side. The wrench for the hose fitting itself and the wrench for the adapter that goes into the block.

The wrenches aren't cheap, I bought craftsmen ones and they were between $50 and $100 total. Worth every penny.

Don't over torque the oil cooler adapters or hoses or you might crack the aluminum oil cooler, an expensive mistake even if you just weld the crack.

Since you're going through all this work, you might as well buy the SS lines Mazdatrix has. My stock one died and dumped all the oil out of the engine almost immediately.

Be very careful about the two mounts that connect the cooler to the car. A lot of times, the rubber decomposes and the cooler just sits there. The hoses in the driver's side will hold the cooler in place if the mounts break, I don't know about the passenger side but be careful not to tear them.

Mazdatrix doesn't appear to have the GSLSE ones but the '86 to '92 ones look like the correct ones. I would call them, it's worth it to replace them if you're removing the cooler. If the mounts die and the cooler sit metal to metal, it might make it leak and it's over $500 from Mazdatrix!!!

Oil Coolers, Cooler Hoses, Fittings, and Catch Tanks

I can't find the mounts in any catalog or web page I look at. I'm sure someone here knows where to get them. For all I know, Mazda still sells them.



Oh yeah, don't forget all the crush washers for the fittings.

 

Nice looking undercarriage but, it doesn't look like the sway bar and tension rods are hooked up?????

 

Thanks. They are hooked up now. When I took that pic, I still needed to pull the control arms and replace those bushings.

 

i did mine without removing the radiator

 

OK thanks for the reply guys. I don't know yet if the hose is leaking or the bung, but I do know that I had oil all the way up the fitting whenever I would look at it, which made me suspect the bung. However, I could also turn the hose and have it rotate at the connection to the fittings, which didn't seem right either, so it might be that...

My father helps run a local machine shop so I can get the bungs welded up easy enough. I was thinking of doing the steel braided lines, but for 200 dollars that is a lot of money when I only have one end of one hose leaking. I will probably just take them to the local hose place here and have them remade. The old ones lasted this long (154k miles)

Still worried about how far the car needs to come apart to get to those mounts for the cooler though. Looks like one mount is already toasted, too. I will have to get it apart and come up with something clever to fix it back right. Maybe I can remove the front grill fairly easily? I've had the bottom tray off quite often, but never the grill. Might be a good time to fix my stupid tow hooks as well...

 

it should not be doing that.

 

And for 84/85 with the 13B.


I wasn't aware 12A's had the FMOC. I thought all 12A SA/FBs had the beehive cooler

 

Nope, just 83 to 85 12A's.

 

So I got the hose removed and it looks like the bung on the oil cooler is in good shape. The hose however is not stock. It looks like someone bought a length of hose and attached it to the hose fittings with a couple of hose clamps on each end, then wrapped it with some sort of cloth tape. The tape hid the hose clamps so I couldn't tell while it was on the car. I will take the whole thing to a hose shop and get something made up right for it.

BTW, for those searching...
The oil cooler looks accessible if you remove the grill under the bumper (5 screws) and the undertray, of course, but getting to the oil cooler mount bolts looks like you go in from the front of the car.

 

How bad is the bee hive in comparison to the 'real' oil coolers. I understand that the bee hive is cooled using radiator water. Is it really all that less efficient? I'm just wondering which is best for the car. My '85 GS destined for track use on hot days.

 

For a street car, the beehive is ok. For a track car that will be pushing the temp higher, go with a FMOC.

 

i own a 85 gslse an it is dangling on rad.

 

Stock port, stock everything, maybe an exhaust, the beehive keeps up with cooling just fine for 20 minute track sessions. If you plan major upgrades like porting or turbo, you'll want the front mount oil cooler.