86 - 944 NA

My coolant has turned the consistency of chocolate milkshake (although the oil appears fine) but the other post has coerced me into tackling the seals on the oil cooler this weekend. I have the instructions from Clark's Garage as well as the 944 Factory Manual. Just a few questions...

- Is it absolutely necessary to remove the headers to perform this task?

- I don't have the special tool used in place of the OPRV when mounting the cooler and housing. Can I just use the OPRV itself to line it up then torque the mounting bolts?

- Any ideas for cleaning milkshake out of the expansion tank? Radiator flush doesn't seem to touch it. I was thinking of pulling it off and flushing with greased lightening but I'm not sure if it will attack the plastic.

Thanks in advance.

 

Headhunter, in order to answer your questions correctly we need to know the year and model of the car. It makes a difference.

You will have to flush out the engine and cooling system with water and Dawn dishwashing liquid.

 

insteading of taking off the headers i just took the studs out which seemed easier then taking the exhaust system off but since u have a NA not sure if it is very hard.

 

Reference the first line of my post.

 

Ah, didn't see that.

When I did the oil cooler seals on my 85.5NA ( same as your 86NA) I didn't have to touch the header. It's a tight squeeze but the housing will come out and go back in without loosening the exhaust. You'll have to pull the power steering pump though. You'll also need the alignment tool but you'll need to see which OPRV you have in there. There was a 3 pc. valve that your car came with and an updated 1 pc. valve. Your car may have been updated with the newer style valve. They make a different alignment tool for each so you need to know which one you have. You can get away without the tool with the late style valve but you will need it for the early style.

 

Wonderful. Could porsche possibly engineer anything more completely rediculous? Thanks for the advice.

 

Yes they could have engineered more ridiculous things. And they did, but that is for another post.

Two things
When you pull the plate that holds the oil filter off to get to the external cooler there is a pipe with an o ring on it. that is not part of what it is attached to. it is about 3/4 inch long and takes two O-rings.

Laundry detergent in the cooling system, let it run for a day or two cleans it out nice. this will help get all your junk from the cooling system into the tank. Oil floats so dont worry about it going back into the system. Do the tank twice, once with the seals and once after the flush.

Try the detergent flush a few times. You will get residue for a while after the job is done.

Try the search function type in "milkshake" or "oil cooler". There are pictures, I did a write up, as did others.

Welcome to the milkshake club.

 

I've replaced 3 oil cooler seals on na's up to this point in different engines, all without using an alignment tool with no issues afterwards. Two were with the 3 pc OPRV, and 1 with the 1 pc in a late '85 motor. You just need to take your time, get everything clean as a whistle, and keep checking the alignment with your valve. It can be done. The real kicker with this job is to know if you have the updated cooler housing on your car or not. If you do, you will use the white plastic peice that comes in these kits, if you don't have the machined/updated housing, you won't use it. Updated housing started in '87 IIRC. No, its not "absolutely necessary" but, I strongly suggest removing the exhaust manifold (PB blaster IS your friend here), remove whatever you HAVE to, in order to get a clear visual shot of what your doing, and as much room to manuever as possible, so it will go together as well as possible. Dawn liquid soap does seem to be the thing to use, though I haven't had to go thru this yet. I've had coolant in the oil, but not oil in the coolant. Good luck!

 

No kidding? This is the first time I've ever seen a solution to the yellowed cooling tank suggested (other than buying a new one). Does this work? What concentration bleach / water?

 

a yellowed tank is indicative of old plastic molded 20 years ago. I don't think any amount of bleach is going to cure that. Mine happens to be white, just caked with oily, frothy gunk, about equivalent to root beer float.