I think my oil cooler is about to cough and die! I changed my oil this past Sunday, and almost like some sort of omen, when I went to move the car into the garage, I noticed that there was a spot (about 3 inches in diameter) on the floor directly beneath my oil cooler. It was a spot, not a pool ... but you must understand that I make sure that my car doesn't leak, so to me it could have just as well been a pool.

Today coming from work, I noticed the temperature gauge doing weird things, but nothing really bad. When I got home, the oil cooler was dripping. The leak is right by the thermal pellet (or whatever you call it) bolt. It seems not to leak with the engine running (but I'm not positive) but when it's off ... it leaks.

So that bring me to this question. What should I do? My cooler is an '81 model ... so it's 21 years old. With the OE SA/FB units between 18 and 23 years old (and counting) it seems to be pointless trying to swap dead **** with dying ****.

I have an '88 oil cooler sitting here looking at me. To be honest, the reason I never installed that one instead of my '81 is because the '88 was giving me trouble to fit. I had custom lines made, and the lower hose on the Gen II coolers does this weird, bitchy bend which is slightly away from the engine, and with my hoses and fittings, it made the cooler simply too wide to fit where I wanted to put it. At this point, I'm looking into getting a 120* -AN fitting to put on the '88 unit (and keeping my fingers crossed that it's not too wide) hopefully, I will be able to get my car up and running with it.

However, I realize that that's not very helpful to the majority of you guys out there who would be inclined to stick with Gen I cooler for whatever reason (cost, availability, originality - whatever). I'm assuming that I'm not the only one that has overlooked the oil cooler, utilizing the "it ain't broke, so there's no need to fix it, right?"-philosophy.

But this is a rude awakening for me. Think about it ... although I'm not positive that the cooler is really about to die, the point is, it's still over 2 decades old ... and it has lived through about 7 motors in 3 cars, now ... and my adolescent 8000 RPM antics. Let's just say it did die. Let's just say I wasn't paranoid, and it died while I was coming from work or something ... that's your motor right there.

With new OEM coolers priced from $400+, I would imagine many would not opt to get new coolers, so I started this thread to see if we could all pool to come up with a reasonably priced, and moreover, EFFECTIVE, solution. Even if it's not dead, I don't feel comfortable driving this thing knowing that it could die any minute. So I'm definitely going to start taking steps to hopefully use my '88 to remedy mine ... but, again, what would be a more global solution for anyone else that may find themselves in my current position?

 

i dunno i have been stripping first gens latley and i take every cooler i can get. i test them but they are getting harder to find. i was thinking maybe the way mike went was the right way. But that looks like it could be a complete mess to install. I have a cooler for sale right now on ebay.

jr

 

Hello- While on the subject of oil coolers, I've been thinking about using a Gen. II cooler in series with my oil/coolant style cooler on my 83', anybody seen it done? -Or would the pressure drop be to much across two coolers in line? Just curious, but it seems like it might be a possible way to solve the 83-85 oil cooler problem, short of removing it .

 

Barring physical damage or being plain old plugged-up, there's no reason for an oil cooler to "die". The crush washer on that big bolt you speak of may need to be replaced with a fresh one to stop the leak, or the oil cooler may just need to be cleaned out. -WG

 

Well, I think I can scratch being plugged up as an option. I clean it out before I swap an engine, and this time, was no different. I cleaned it about 2 months ago, right before it went back into service.

I considered that it might need a gasket/seal or something for that bolt, aside from that I see oil in between some of the fins about 3-4 inches to the left of the tank that the pellet is in. Could be that it's cracked somewhere in there ... I don't know. It wasn't leaking when I cleaned it.

It's integrity just plain worries me now, and with the luck I've been having, this would be all I need. If I lose this motor, I might as well just dip myself in a vat of chicken fat and go swimming in the Glades ...

 

Well, they're pretty easy to find, just takes $.
I don't know if it would fit, but it seems like an RX4 oil cooler would be a good upgrade. The RX4s had a bigger radiator, too. Good luck! -WG

 

Well, the people who have done the 2nd gen air/oil cooler mod(including myself, see my sig.) have taken out the 12a pedistal water/oil cooler.

What is needed is :
-2nd gen oil filter pedistal.
-2nd gen oil filter.
-2nd gen oil cooler.
-2nd gen oil cooler lines (both of them).

You can find more info about it if you do a search on the forum. It's easy to do and gives great results. It's a bolt on mod, with only fab work there is would be the mounting of the oil cooler in front of the radiator, and you will have to rerout the coolant line that went to the old oil cooler. My oil pressure didn't change much either.

-Error402

 

I bought an 82 oil cooler for 15 bucks at the local junk yard. It works great with NO leaks. If I were you I would just go find a "new" junker cooler and be done with it. It's just a bolt-on and will save you the hassle of fabrication, etc. The coolers may be old but they rarely fail unless damaged. Maybe yours got damaged by some flying debris.

error402 - So you used the stock 2nd gen oil lines and they worked out fine?

 

Yep. No problems what so ever.

-Error402

 

also check you oil cooler lines....they go bad also.....i have some new ones...and can get more if you need some!