Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 09:46:41 -0700
Reply-To: Randy Bergum <organslave@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Randy Bergum <organslave@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: oil leak found? (oil cooler)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
I have the same problem right now! My oil cooler - a liquid to liquid
heat exchanger - is leaking from the back side. Went to the dealer to get
an O-Ring, and just in case, picked up the 2 small hoses that connect with
it and a new oil cooler to boot.
After crawling under the car I realized that there would be lots of
coolant raining down on the head, and this would be a job for the
mechanic. The cooler itself is easy to replace, but once you open the
cooling system, be prepared to fill and bleed.
Needless to say, the van goes in tomorrow for the repair. Mechanic
man says that the cooler is most likely the cause of oil leaks, he says
that they warp!
Best of luck............. Randy Bergum organslve@earthlink.net
mac stricklen wrote:
> After work this evening I crawled under my '80 Vanagon with some Foamy
> Engine Brite and a hose and cleaned off all of the oil that was
> smeared on the bottom of the engine and the exhaust system. I then
> started it up and waited for the drip to begin.
>
> It didn't take long. Soon, I was able to clearly see a steady
> dripping from something that I was only able to identify at that time
> as "the silver box-like thing that's kind of above the oil filter."
>
> I turned off the engin and went to the manuals (Muir and Bentley) I
> looked through the pictures in Bentley until I found one that seemed
> to indicate that "the silver box-like thing" was an oil cooler.
>
> I looked under oil leaks in the index in Muir and found mention of the
> oil cooler being a common source of oil leaks.
>
> So, to all of you experience mechanics out there, does this sound
> right. Is this my oil cooler that seems to be leaking.
>
> If so, I get the impression that the only solution is replacing it.
> $99.95 from Bus Depot--which I guess could be a lot worse.
>
> My question is this---What to I need to do to replace it. Bently
> doesn't really say (typical), and Muir says that I'll have to remove
> the engine. However, I get the impression that Muir could really be
> talking about breadloaf buses and not really vanagons. To me that
> fact that I can see almost the whole oil cooler by squatting and
> looking through the wheel well suggests that removal might be possible
> from the bottom without having to take out the whole darn engine.
> Could the be true?
>
> thanks,
> mac
>
> P.S. I was planning on ordering the Haynes manual tommorrow AM--does
> anyone know if this will shed a little more light on the oil cooler
> thing?
>
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