Mrmerlin

How would you fix this?
JB weld,
or welding.
The oil cooler is dripping from the pipe to housing about 1 drip every 2 mins when hot.
There is less than 1/2 inch tween the fins and rear side of the pipe.

neilh

Clean everything off with a good de-greaser, probably would not use brake cleaner - purple stuff, maybe. Then JB weld.

928 at last

Hey Stan,
I've had good results with JB. (Not the quick set stuff). Used it on my snowmobile heat exchanger years ago and no leaks since. Area has to be clean to the point of sterile, with some abrasion for adhesion. It's been several hundred miles now, and the exchanger is located in the front bulkhead and exposed to all the crap the track throws up, like rocks, salt, sand, loose track picks (What caused the problem in the first place), and, oh yeah, and snow......
So, I'd go with this solution as a first choice. YMMV.
Rob.

928 at last

Oh, and it's subject to normal rad pressures, and flowing coolant as well.

nc_growler

Mine has a small leak too... But it was beat hard by two PO's who had ride height down below 130... Front spoiler and pans were gone too.

The cooler is pretty mangled and I'm surprised how little it is leaking (just a tiny leak on the driver's side at the bottom).

I'm ordering a rebuilt one from Roger if he still has one next month...

John Veninger

Worth a try since those coolers are so darn expensive!

Mrmerlin

JB Welded it,
we will see, thanks for the ideas

steve322s

I would try this first

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jijW3...D687C814D2F98F

Steve

Dave928S

I've used those rods and they're brilliant. The scary thing on a cooler is making sure you don't melt/weaken other joints while fixing the first leak ... and so I'd be hesitant with that application.

DanielD

The PO on mine had dropped the ride height way down too. Mine was trashed by hitting way too many parking lot bumpers, or something. I replaced mine... OUCH!

Mrmerlin

JB weld fixed the leak

voskian

Had slow oil cooler leak, in the same place. Cleaned up , degreased, used JB Weld and fixed the leak, thanks for the help!

Rexxus

Hiya,

please forgive my noobness here… I have a leak on the drivers side oil cooler, pic below. I’m hoping I can fix it without replacing the oil cooler. Would anyone be able to lay out the process? I have some thoughts Below but am wanting to confirm the process for JB weld, etc.

- jack up car
- remove black skirt on bottom of car connected to front bumper
- clean well
- see if I spot why it’s leaking. Bend hoses? Cracked?

now’s the part I need direction on. Once the area is clean do I apply JB weld around where the leak is? Or do I disconnect the hoses, replace the o-rings, apply lock tight, connect the hoses, and then apply JB weld?

wouldn’t applying JB weld to a hose connection glue it into place and make unscrewing the nuts sometime later impossible? The pic below should clarify a bit of what I mean.

C531XHO

Your leak looks different from Stan's original one. His was from the structure of the cooler cracking, yours looks to be from the seal if I understand correctly. I can't offer personal experience of fixing since a PO had removed my oil cooler and just connected the pipes (b*****d) and I went with a cooler incorporated into a new aluminium radiator instead.

Take a look at the WSM and check out seal #9 (at least thats whats shown in MY87-91)

The part number in the MY version I referenced is 900 331 02240 but please do you own checks/or just call Roger. I would clean the area down and inspect to see if there are other leaks WYAIT

FredR

Before doing anything it may be prudent to clean the area and see if you can spot anything to indicate that it is the seal that is leaking and not a mechanical failure of some kind.

You might want to check the tightness of that Allen bolt that secures the oil pipes - that joint is not normally a problem child but it may be prudent to unbolt, clean and fit new O rings.

I understand the external cooler was introduced in the 1989 model year- for sure it was present in my late 90S4- presumably designed to remove heat load from the radiator and as I am concerned is a preferable arrangement but its Achilles heel is that there is no induced air flow so not too clever when stuck in traffic on hot days.