Oil cooler repair failure
 

Well, looks like I have to do the whole job over again. When I finally was able to start the car, it didn't take long before it dumped 1/2 qt of oil onto my garage floor. A minute of runtime, maybe a bit more. It's very difficult to see where it is coming from, in fact I can't be sure, but it does not seem to be coming from the freshly replaced valvecover or the oil filter cap. I'm at a loss as to where I went wrong. The only thing I can think of is the seal shown below got knocked out of place upon reassembly. I can't begin to express how frustrated I am at this whole thing, it's been a nightmare trying to figure this thing out. I need a new floor jack, I can't trust my current one to hold up the front of the motor for the couple hours I need to get everything past the motor mount back apart to access what I need. I suppose that answers the question of what's worse to do on this car than an oil cooler job, doing it twice.https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.aud...1cb89a8349.jpg

Sorry to hear. Had a few of those over the years; usually a Hail Mary to try to salvage a motor bearing or internal tranny where it does prove to be spun/blown.

Throw jack in garbage can pronto. BTDT on my last one too. Not worth risking life or limb, and we've all read those sad stories around our home towns. Jack stands always, or the poor man's loose wheel pushed underneath at least. Chance to regroup meantime.

Before pulling anything, obviously you would want to know leak source definitively. For valve cover, run finger or paper towel along the edge where the seal is and see if you pick up any oil. Outer lower corners are usual prime suspects. Think about those seals around the cam tensioner assembly and the half moon rubber thing too in case something wasn't replaced or slipped or what ever. And yeah, I know it could well be something w/ the oil cooler unfortunately.

These days with camera phones and video, you can stick them (with flash on) in places sometimes your head+eyes or even an inspection mirror won't go. Then just review the video clip for any areas or cracks you poke at.

P.S. Also lowly oil filter/canister? And that little drain screw and seal, or the old doubled up o ring problem...

It's not the oil canister, and I'm pretty sure it isn't the valve cover. I didn't see any fresh oil. I looked for the half moon seal but never saw one when I was replacing the valve cover gasket, didn't think too much of it. It seems to be something coming from along the aft side of the oil filter housing, right where that weird double seal is. I can see fresh oil on that side of the housing but above that is hard to see. The valve cover didn't seem to have any along the bottom seam of it. I ordered a new jack, a new one of that funky double seal, and a new crush ring for the oil pan. I work tomorrow, so Monday is the soonest I can get another look, but even then, I really can't tear it apart too far before being stopped by lack of a trustworthy jack. I'll still keep the old one, it's a very maneuverable jack and would still be useful for light duty things. I always have backup jackstands in place before I get under anything, too, not that I want to count on the old jack anymore for anything.

When I did the oil cooler repair on my 4.2 I had a similar leak, and it was definitely from the odd shaped gasket you have circled in the picture above. Thought I had all the oil cooler mount bolts torqued down as much as was possible, ended up not being quite enough. Without too much disassembly I was able to gain access to the bolts closest to the gasket and reattempt torquing them down. After a good bit of struggling with the confined space (and altering of some tools) I was able to get more torque on the offending bolts and got lucky enough to stop the leak. It may be worth a try, may also be a fluke that it did work out for me.

The leak is quite large, but while I thought I torqued things well, stripping bolts was never a concern far from my mind. I may try removing the crossmember and motor mount first, that will give me access to the bolts that would be the cause of the leak, and check the torque on them before going so far as to drain the coolant and oil, it would only take 30 minutes extra to try it even if I do turn out to be able to snug them a bit more and it fails to work. If it does work, it will save me a fair bit of trouble and heartache.

As MP4.2 said, today's cell phone cameras let your eyes see places you can't get your head. I agree with MP4.2 on this advice which falls into the area of plain old common sense. I'm surprised he didn't recommend taking it to an "expert" as opposed to DIY.

However, I'd take his advice one step further. Not unlike what my proctologist uses to see where no man has gone before, you can get a boroscope for as little as $12 bucks. With a light at the end and even a little mirror add on, you can snake the 1/4" flexible, 6' extension places where you can't get your hands let alone a camera. You might get some oil on the end, but it doesn't have to be sterilized like the one a doctor goes into no man's land.

Here's one on Amazon:. There are more expensive ones but this served my purpose when I was looking to remove the last, bottom screw holding the ABS module to the ABS modulator.

Just can't stop flogging it? Not a great way to win points on a forum.

I am a DIY'er top to bottom, BUT A/C system is one of the very few that I think merits a pro to avoid longer term blowing the compressor scenarios that cost $$$$ and labor hassle way up there. Labor like the oil cooler is as far as major pain in butt to deal with, but with way pricier parts to boot. Jack can also validate the help I have provided--as he did in your earlier post--both on the forum and messaging.

Let's move on.

While a borescope would confirm it, I'm a bit tired of buying tools! I'll try with the cell phone, but I'm pretty confident the leak isn't the valve cover gasket and I know it isn't the oil filter cap. Still waiting on a jack before I can remove a couple things and really get a good look/recheck torque on some of those bolts.

As an FYI the leak I had was alarming, oil was basically pouring out of that area when the engine was running and pressurized by the oil pump. I was sick feeling after all of the work that had been done. As I recall the bolts nearest the odd shaped "O-ring" dealio were the most difficult to to get at. I ground down an allen key making it stubby and attached a combination wrench onto the end of it for leverage. Was very tedious but managed to bring it tight enough to stop the leak.

That's actually good to know. If that's the case, I think I will be able to remove the engine cradle and passenger front motor mount to access the bolts fairly simply when the new jack gets here. It would be nice not to have to drain all the oil and coolant again and remove all that other stuff too. But we'll see!