Most would agree that Stainless Steel Braided Oil Cooler Lines are supposed to be pretty reliable, sturdy well made, and arguably overkill for our cars. Stock lines leak on some vehicles for different reasons. They did on mine and so I decided to go SS for the reliability factor.

I purchased from my lines from Corksport back in JUN 05. They set me back a pretty penny, but i figured they were well worth it considering the price of the local stealership. They fit great, they looked great and most of all worked great. No leaks and no problems until this:

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/help-something-oil-related-broke-705768/

Long story short, one of my lines failed during a spirited drive. For the way they were advertised at the time and the testimony of others with SS oil lines, i figured they were virtually indestructible. "In my Face" was the outcome though. I failed to realize this recent thread (Evil Eagle 15th post):

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=oil+cooler

So now I'm in a **** situation and had to fork out some decent cash becasue of poor quality manufacturing and the failure to do a proper recall.

So here are the pics from my situation.

1. You can see that everything looked pretty much normal, except for the oil all over the front of the engine bay. As mentioned in the previous thread, I checked the obvious; oil cap, oil filter, oil injectors, OMP, oil feed line and the oil return line. After realizing that the oil was primarily near the battery, it was narrowed down to either Oil cooler or SS oil lines.



2. After a visual inspection of the lines and cooler, they seemed to be fine. So I figured maybe there was a tear somewhere in one of the lines. As soon as I put my hand on the front SS oil line to feel for a tear or leak, the line seperated from the fitting. WTF!!?!?!



3-7. This is what i was left with. Oil all over the place, even dripping from my radiator. I figured that a line would tear before a fitting would just come loose. No frayed ends, tears or even stress marks. As you can see it was a clean seperation due to ,IMO, shitty/horrible manufacturing. Looking at the fitting after it was removed shows the "quality crimp".










I'm trying to be fair here. Maybe my motor rocked soo much that the line gave right??? Wrong... I've had polyurethane mounts since the day I did my swap, 1yr prior to purchasing my lines. I regularly tighten my mounts, my motor barely moves.

This is clearly the reason why Corksport decided to change who manufactured their lines. Why they didnt notify their customers with a product recall is beyond me. Hopefully this will inform other users who might find themselves in a similar situation. Be sure that the lines you have or are going to purchase dont end up like mine. Maybe it will save you some time, headache, lots of $$ and possibly your motor.

 

That really sucks ***. If the issue was a known problem, you would think that something would be done about it...

 

I just checked my Aeroquip catalog. According to them, a ferrel should have been used when those lines (which appear to be Teflon) were crimped. Did you see a ferrel inside the fitting?

Edit...It's probably not crappy manufacturing, but a single mistake with your set of lines. If there was a known manufacturing defect then we would be hearing of this failure much more often.

 

I got mine from mazdatrix and they have lasted 5+ years so far.

 

Stock lines or remanufactured stockers are the best option. I don't get the SS thing. It's not like these things have to fight ninjas every time you drive...

 

Did you contact Corksport, before dragging them throught the mud?

 

Please understand that this thread is in NO WAY meant to defame Corksport. YES I contacted them and PM'd Ryan making him aware of this thread a week ago. I'm not going to get into my experiences with them in this thread. Bottom line is that I like Corksport and have already placed an order for new lines from them. If you would look through and read EvilEagle's post in this thread https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.ph...ght=oil+cooler
you'd realize that I'm just trying to make people aware of this because Corksport and Mazdatrix both used the same company to manufacture their SS lines during that time period. Less than 20% of the lines will have problems, but if you end up having problems, you wont see anything wrong with this thread.

 

I've seen several of their lines break and cost people engines.

 

RB on mine, over 7 years if use; not a single problem with them

 

Mine leaked like a ******* siv. They swore to me it was the oil cooler that had a crack in it. I sold them for $20 making the new owner aware that they may or amy not leak. Such crap. From now on, I build my own.

 

Not trying to highjack this thread, but how do you test them?

 

I have a little contraption that is basically the male end of my compressors air hose attached to a regulator threaded into a T with a gauge on the top and I can switch out between -4,-6 or -10 fittings. Then I thread the new hose onto said adapter and the other end is plugged. Blast 135PSI of air into while the hose is underwater.

 

^^^ i like that because my hoses couldnt have been put under any more than 80PSI at the most and look what happened

 

I had Corksport lines for a while - and they never let me down. I bought them a few years back though when they first came out so maybe they had a bad batch. I've moved on to simply making my own now (that goes for all my lines) so if anything should fail, it's only my fault.

I've had good and bad times with Corksport, as I've ordered parts from them for my protege back in the day, rx7s and rx8s - all in all they do a good job.

 

I have had Mazdatrix SS lines on my car since ~1994 and have never had one problem. I have the Turbo Pressure regulator and when cold I see over 100 PSI.

 

Ohhh snap is the motor still ok.

 

I had mine custom made down in so cal for the same price as the corksport ones. The guy made them right in front me and gave me my choice of fittings. If I can get it locally that's what I do.

Sucks to hear about your luck.

 

I just bought a set and really hope that this was a problem the CS fixed.

 

Once again guys, this is not to bash CS, because I enjoy their products. If you read the second thread link in my first post, you'll see that these lines were purchased before they switched manufacturers of their lines.

It takes alot to admit that on a forum with a large customer base. I respect their company and the way they conduct their business, so I still purchase from them. This is just to make others aware of what "I" experienced. Once again, this was not just CS but Mazdatrix apparently used the same company to produce their SS oil lines at that time... hence the "Beware" part in my thread title.

My motor made it out ok, as soon as my oil buzzer came on, I shut the motor off and coasted off the side. it ran for about 3 seconds while the buzzer was on. i had it towed to my house. i found the 1/8th mile strip of oil where my line actually blew, and it left a bit of a mess on the tow truck. it'll really be just a matter of changing the lines and putting more oil in.

 

Once again

Got the parts number around (I wouldn't mind building my own)

 

Thanks & sure - lemme see what I can dig up for ya

 

If you buy this Gauge & Reg from Eastwood Co - Number - HAV-501



All you would need would be this



To go from the 1/4" NPT to the -Whatever size and then plug the other end with somthing like EAR-980610ERL from SummitRacing

 

Add air and look for leaks

 

Crimped teflon oil cooler hoses aren't worth the extra effort they require for the 50 dollars extra you'll pay for AN hoses.

 

Earls or whatever brand you like fittings all AN 10. You need 4 metric to -10 adapters (2 m16 and 2 m18 by memory) 1 -10 45, 2 -10 90's and either a -10 90 or -10 to metric strait thread 90 depending on weather you have AC or not. And about 5-6 feet total stainless steel line. Double braid is best, its stiffer and much easier to cut without fraying.

There are many other ways to skin this cat (banjo's etc) total cost should be under 150 dollars for a single stock cooler.