Oil Cooler removal Qs.
 

I removed my spare oil cooler/lines from my parts car today and I plan on swapping them with my current ones. It wasn't so hard removing them from my parts car because the battery, radiator and condenser have already been removed. I expect I'll have to remove those from my current car unless the oil cooler can be pulled out from underneath?

Also, I expect it should be easier to remove the fittings from below as well because the master cylinder is in the way of the rear and the belts/pulleys/fan are crowding access to the front fitting.

Just trying to make sure I dont remove anything I dont have too because I'm pressed for time at the garage at my college. I only have 3.5 hours to fix all my oil leaks which include my oil pan gasket, oil pedestal O-ring, Oil-metering-pump O-ring, Oil cooler lines and probably the fittings as well. I have all brand new gaskets, O-rings and crush-washers from Mazdatrix.

Any tips would be appreciate. I need to get this all taken care of before an autocross on sunday!

Remove it from underneath. Pull that plastic tray off. And you might pull the battery and the tray it sits on also.

It's going to be difficult to remove the hose/union at the front cover because the fan gets in the way. Might remove the four nuts that hold the fan on and remove the fan. I'm not saying removal of that union/hose can be done from the bottom, only the oil cooler and the oil hose at the rear of the engine.

If the OMP still leaks after you replace the o'ring, you might suspect the lever o'ring who's part number I don't know and requires the OMP to be removed to replace it.

I'd have a big problem trying to replace the pan gasket, oil lines and OMP o'ring in just three hrs. Guess I'm slow.

Well, at the very least I'll replace the oil filter O-ring and OMP O-rings. If I haven't taken too much time by then I'll tackle the oil cooler job.

When you refill the motor with oil after all this how much more do you add for the empty cooler? Do you add oil to the cooler at the top fitting before you add oil to the motor?

You can pre-fill the cooler if you want, but I never do. The cooler holds about a quart so just check the oil after the first startup.

The engine oil pump moves a lot of volume so within a second or two afer startup the cooler will be full.

Well, I only managed to swap the oil cooler/lines and oil filter this afternoon. The biggest problem was the front fitting. I tried many things but ultimately I had to move the radiator and the battery out of the way to get it done. The rear fitting was easy to remove... not so easy to line up again. I'm sure a better mechanic could have got it done quicker and easier. Meh... one less thing to worry about :)

I added 6 quarts when I was finished and the oil pressure was good at first but dropped once it hit a normal idle. I added a couple more quarts and its stable now... good as it ever was. Hasn't sprung any leaks yet either. I'm sure the autocross tommorow will reveal any if there are any.

Thanks for your help as always guys I'll keep you posted about tommorow

Wait, you said you put in 6 qts, and then a couple more??? Wow, sounds like a little too much. Last few times I did it, It took 6 qts. max with a filter change and empty oil cooler after the rebuild. Maybe 6.5 qts. Eh, maybe your car is special....

well, even if it isn't leaking as much it'll still be leaking. I'll burn off a quart in a week probably. I just added some more oil before I left the garage because I didn't want to drive away with oil pressure less then 30 at idle.