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frank12873 Member
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Hello everyone! I can't seem to get my oil cooler lines to seal up. They both leak badly at the fittings on the oil cooler; no leaks on the filter side. I have taken them off 3 times now, examined them for burrs (none found), and reinstalled them (the last time I REALLY tightened them down). They seem oil tight for a while, but ultimately leak, after driving the car at highway speeds. Anyone else have this problem? I've looked at the parts manual, and I don't see where I'm missing any parts like a crush washer or rubber o-ring; manual doesn't show any. I've thought about reinstalling next time with a thin coating of the blue sealant around the nipple of the cooler fitting, but am worried that some of the semi-soft sealent could get into the engine, clog an oil passage, and seize it. Is that a legitimate concern? I've also considered using 10W-40 oil next oil change, to lower the oil pressure in the engine. My engine has 60-65 #psi at start-up, and 45-50 #psi at highway speeds at all times when hot. I've read here that I could expect 6# psi less at highway speeds using the lighter weight oil. Maybe that will help? This oil leak is really lessening my enjoyment of the car. It seems it should be a simple fix, but I can't seem to make it seal. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! |
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Brett Gibson JH5 20497 Member
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Frank, you are correct there are no special washers or sealers it's just a male to female fit, personally if it was me I would put a little pipe dope on the threads and on the male cone style fitting that way it would reduce any chance in getting it into the engine, I dont think that a small amount though would bother anything, make sure when tightening that you hold back a wrench on the cooler it self and torque it down good and tight. If your still leaking after that then the female fitting is probably distorted and it's time for replacement, plus 30 year old rubber hoses that carry the life's blood of your engine should be replaced just for piece of mind, the stainless ones Delta sell's run about $100 and worth every penny, and one last thing those fittings should normally be good to hold better than 100 psi possibly close to 200 psi so trying to reduce oil pressure probably wont help, ( and then you might create other problems ) Good luck Brett. |
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frank12873 Member
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Thanks for the input, Brett. I've looked at both male and female fittings, and they seemed undistorted to me. I'll remove and reinstall the hoses again this weekend, with a little pipe dope this time as you suggested. If still no success, then I guess I'll order the replacement hoses from Delta that you mentioned, though my existing hoses look pretty new. Your point about the hoses being designed to withstand far greater pressures than 65#psi is a good one. I'll stick with the 20W-50 oil. I was grasping at straws there! I was going to change the oil this weekend anyway, so maybe I'll detach the oil cooler from the car and dump its old oil out too, getting me closer to a "complete" oil change. Does anybody routinely dump the oil from the cooler (through the hoses maybe?) when they do an oil change? |
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Ron Earp Member 
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We generally clean oil coolers out every couple of oil changes. I usually blow them out with compressed air. And when I go to put everything back together I fill the cooler with oil using a funnel so that the car won't have to pump a lot of air back through the system and run for some seconds without oil in the lines. Ron |
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frank12873 Member
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Good idea, Ron, filling the cooler back up with fresh oil, to avoid a slower build-up of oil pressure I will do that. Thanks! |
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Greg Fletcher Administrator 
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I use Loctite 515 on the threads. It's an anaerobic sealer that is designed for use as a gasket eliminator and flange sealant- I use 515 on the cam towers, between the pan and block and any area that needs sealing with oil on the other side. Comes in handy for many jobs. http://www.jhps.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=jhps&Product_Code=L515&Category_Code=CC |
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Panini Member 
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Just replaced ours. I used a little loctite and also found it easier to tighten the inside hose taking the fitting off the car. Also be sure it's the male to female and not the fitting itself. Mine were way loose. |
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Ron Earp Member
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Frank, did you see pics of the car I got from you last August? She is behind schedule but she is about 1 week away from running on her own and 3 weeks away from her first competition event! http://www.jensenhealey.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=234&forum_id=10 Ron Last edited on 07-24-2005 09:45 pm by Ron Earp |
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frank12873 Member
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Thanks to all of you for your helpful replies. I'm gonna try again tomorrow, with a little 515 sealant this time on the male fittings and the threads. |
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