Anyone replace oil cooler lines?
 

I've noticed my oil cooler lines are soaked with oil. Which means they are deffinitely leaking. The oil level does not seem to be effected much, so they must not be leaking too bad. But I want to change them anyways. Mazdatrix has a set of stainless steel braided lines for like $150. How hard is this job? My oil pressure is just a hair below the 60 mark, maybe like 55. But that guage is anything but accurate so it could be a lil higher or lower. Would a small oil leak in these lines cause a small decrease in oil pressure?


:)

Alright after searching like I should of done in the first place I found most of what I needed to know. I just need some tips on how to change the lines. Is there some sort of trick to get the one on the back of the motor off? How about the bolts holding the lines on the cooler itself? My problem seems to be common so I'm in no hurry, but it must be done.

^

Its a messy job! All you have to do is crawl under your car to get to the oil line on the rear drivers side of the engine. I beleive its a 23mm. Be careful not to strip it, there on there pretty tight, if you do you can get it off with a visegrips, but thats only if you strip it, Good Luck!

Drain the oil obviously! i soaked the fittings with a break free solutuion and then cleaned out the threads since they, have a reputation for leaking. Overall i like them and they don't leak anymore.

Unless you want to do it as preventative maintenance, you may not need to change the lines. There are copper crush washers where the fittings screw in that have a tendancy to leak when they get real old. You may only need to replace the washers.

I hate to do the same work twice. So I think I will just change them while there are off. I'm not really on a tight budget so money is no issue. $150 is like one night out on a weekend; so I will just rent a movie, buy a case of beer and sit home with my lady. New oil cooler lines and a blow-job = best of both worlds...

the stock lines work fine, but if yours are leaking, the ss ones are a good upgrade. Dont let it go too long before you replace them. If they burst and dump all the oil out, you buy yourself new oil cooler lines and a motor.

http://www.nightracer.com/fc_rack.jpg

Sweet!! looks to me the lines will be easy to get at since I have no AC or PS.

to get at the rear line, jack up the car and go in from under it, easier.. But if it's like mine were, those suckers are on there TIGHT. Definitely use the right size wrench, but for some reason I thought the rear fitting was 26mm, not 23.

23MM on all bolts. You can make your own braided lines with some #10 AN hose. Have a hose shop crimp the stock fittings onto it. Much cheaper than the Mazdatrix lines.

An RX-7 boat? that would be interesting!!!

Quite. Thinking of using oil drums as pontoons, and simply putting the prop on the driveshaft. Loose the rear subframe, use the steering wheel to turn dual rudders at the front...But it's just an idea... ;)

You'll need a selection of wrench sizes (23, 26 and 22 if I remember correctly). Likely you'll have to take the oil cooler out to get the front lines off - no biggie, just unbolt the lines from the engine side and remove the cooler with the lines attached. Clamp in a vise and remove. I used the MazdaTrix SS lines, the fit well but they're a bit tricky to install as the SS lines are very stiff. IIRC I bolted the top line to the cooler first and the bottom line to the engine first.

Good luck, its not that hard. If you have SS lines made BTW make sure that the alignment is correct as SS lines have absolutely no 'twist' ability and use new copper crush washers (Mazda has them)

Henrik
87TII

PS. One of mine blew out during a WOT run at about 60mph, made a *%*@!! mess of the engine bay and underside of the car - if yours are leaking do the change.