Removing Oil from the Front Coolers
09-10-2012, 09:43 AM
#1
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Removing Oil from the Front Coolers
The conventional method for changing oil in a 964 drains oil from the engine and oil tank, but leaves a considerable amount of used oil in the front cooling loop. If you have two oil coolers it’s even more oil.
My track 964 has two front oil coolers which increases the total oil system volume to approximately 16 quarts. With the standard oil change procedure less than 10 quarts would drain, leaving more than 40% of the used oil in the system. Since I was concerned about good quality clean oil for monitoring proper engine break in, I developed a method to purge the used oil in the front coolers and tubing with fresh oil.
Disconnecting the oil lines at the thermostat as described below, I first tried low pressure compressed air to force oil out of the oil coolers, but it was largely unsuccessful. The following procedure works well and should be used after draining the engine and tank. It’s also much easier to do this when the car is on a lift, but that is not essential.
First step is to remove the rocker and sail panel on the right side. I replaced the stock rocker clips and forward sail panel clip with screws to facilitate a routine process.
Unfasten the oil tubing clamps along the rocker.
Disconnect the metric tubes on the forward side of the thermostat in the sequence below. Note the tube connections are metric hose sizes. Less than a quart of oil will drain from these lines, it’s only the oil in the tubing along the rocker and the rising section at the front wheel well. The draining oil was not difficult to collect.
Connections are labeled on the attached sketch.
For connection 1: Disconnect the outer oil tubing at the front of the thermostat. Temporarily insert the vinyl 1” ID tubing to collect the draining oil, or collect the oil directly into a bucket since not much will drain. Then screw a 30mm male metric hose x 16AN female fitting (a 12AN fitting might be more convenient) into the oil tubing. I don’t have a part number for this fitting, but your local Aeroquip supplier will be able to get it. IIRC this fitting is available from Elephant Racing.
For connection 3: As shown, I used a reducing AN bushing and some miscellaneous hose to fabricate an adapter into which the discharge from the lever oil pump is inserted and clamped.
For connection 2: With the outer oil line moved out of the way, disconnect the inner tube from the thermostat and slip the 1 inch ID clear vinyl tubing over the metal oil tubing. I warmed the vinyl tubing in hot water to increase pliability.
For connection 4: Since the car was on a lift, I inserted a hose to MPT fitting in the vinyl tubing and connected to a PVC pipe inserted into a 5 gallon bucket that collected the used oil.
For connection 3: Insert and clamp the discharge fitting from the oil pump. I used a Westward 5NUD5 lever action bucket pump from Grainger. I first tried a small hand pump but it couldn’t deal with the oil’s viscosity. Before initial use of the bucket pump I flushed it by pumping some mineral spirits – the mineral spirits can be disposed of with used oil – followed by oil. The bucket pump is designed to sit on a 5 gal bucket, so I inserted its suction pipe into a large oil jug filled with my fresh oil and centered the suction tube inside the bucket. I needed to add more oil to the jug once during the process.
Pumping fresh oil into the system pushes the used oil out. It’s easy to monitor the oil color with the clear vinyl tubing and recognize when fresh oil has completed the circuit. I verified a complete flush by noting that about six quarts of used oil were drained from the front.
Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.
Based on measuring the accumulated drained oil, this method replaced effectively all the old oil in the front section. As with all oil changes, however, the oil tank level needs to be checked after the thermostat has opened and circulated oil through the front section.
My track 964 has two front oil coolers which increases the total oil system volume to approximately 16 quarts. With the standard oil change procedure less than 10 quarts would drain, leaving more than 40% of the used oil in the system. Since I was concerned about good quality clean oil for monitoring proper engine break in, I developed a method to purge the used oil in the front coolers and tubing with fresh oil.
Disconnecting the oil lines at the thermostat as described below, I first tried low pressure compressed air to force oil out of the oil coolers, but it was largely unsuccessful. The following procedure works well and should be used after draining the engine and tank. It’s also much easier to do this when the car is on a lift, but that is not essential.
First step is to remove the rocker and sail panel on the right side. I replaced the stock rocker clips and forward sail panel clip with screws to facilitate a routine process.
Unfasten the oil tubing clamps along the rocker.
Disconnect the metric tubes on the forward side of the thermostat in the sequence below. Note the tube connections are metric hose sizes. Less than a quart of oil will drain from these lines, it’s only the oil in the tubing along the rocker and the rising section at the front wheel well. The draining oil was not difficult to collect.
Connections are labeled on the attached sketch.
For connection 1: Disconnect the outer oil tubing at the front of the thermostat. Temporarily insert the vinyl 1” ID tubing to collect the draining oil, or collect the oil directly into a bucket since not much will drain. Then screw a 30mm male metric hose x 16AN female fitting (a 12AN fitting might be more convenient) into the oil tubing. I don’t have a part number for this fitting, but your local Aeroquip supplier will be able to get it. IIRC this fitting is available from Elephant Racing.
For connection 3: As shown, I used a reducing AN bushing and some miscellaneous hose to fabricate an adapter into which the discharge from the lever oil pump is inserted and clamped.
For connection 2: With the outer oil line moved out of the way, disconnect the inner tube from the thermostat and slip the 1 inch ID clear vinyl tubing over the metal oil tubing. I warmed the vinyl tubing in hot water to increase pliability.
For connection 4: Since the car was on a lift, I inserted a hose to MPT fitting in the vinyl tubing and connected to a PVC pipe inserted into a 5 gallon bucket that collected the used oil.
For connection 3: Insert and clamp the discharge fitting from the oil pump. I used a Westward 5NUD5 lever action bucket pump from Grainger. I first tried a small hand pump but it couldn’t deal with the oil’s viscosity. Before initial use of the bucket pump I flushed it by pumping some mineral spirits – the mineral spirits can be disposed of with used oil – followed by oil. The bucket pump is designed to sit on a 5 gal bucket, so I inserted its suction pipe into a large oil jug filled with my fresh oil and centered the suction tube inside the bucket. I needed to add more oil to the jug once during the process.
Pumping fresh oil into the system pushes the used oil out. It’s easy to monitor the oil color with the clear vinyl tubing and recognize when fresh oil has completed the circuit. I verified a complete flush by noting that about six quarts of used oil were drained from the front.
Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.
Based on measuring the accumulated drained oil, this method replaced effectively all the old oil in the front section. As with all oil changes, however, the oil tank level needs to be checked after the thermostat has opened and circulated oil through the front section.
09-20-2012, 07:19 AM
#5
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Very nice David, thank you - this concerns me also, say twice a season.
As **** (read caring) as you are, I know already that no more research needs to be done...this is the way to go.
As **** (read caring) as you are, I know already that no more research needs to be done...this is the way to go.
09-20-2012, 07:56 AM
#6
Three Wheelin'
This is a great solution. I've probably got the bits lying around to do this too!
I'm wondering though, is not easier and maybe less wasteful of oil to just take the cooler out and turn it upside down?
I'm wondering though, is not easier and maybe less wasteful of oil to just take the cooler out and turn it upside down?
09-20-2012, 10:20 AM
#7
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Glad to offer something useful. I was lucky to work with Jerry at European Performance in developing the procedure; it was actually easier than I had anticipated especially with the car on a lift. The hard part was finding the correct hose fitting - overnight order from the local Aeroquip supplier.
Access to the oil coolers, at least in my car, requires removing the bumper cover. Since the oil lines connect at the top of the coolers and there are additional hoses to plumb in the second cooler, it's a PITA to deal with the congestion under there.
The only lost fresh oil is the small amount that drains from the lines when you need to reconnect them to the thermostat.
Access to the oil coolers, at least in my car, requires removing the bumper cover. Since the oil lines connect at the top of the coolers and there are additional hoses to plumb in the second cooler, it's a PITA to deal with the congestion under there.
The only lost fresh oil is the small amount that drains from the lines when you need to reconnect them to the thermostat.
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06-24-2023, 09:24 PM
#8
Racer
Sorry, Can't find the delete thread. Was trying to post in the current oil thread but somehow this 10 year old thread took my post...?
Last edited by allcool; 06-24-2023 at 09:37 PM.
