Re: Murphy's Law - oil cooler seal blew up!

["John Van Vuren" <veedublu@prod.net>]

This is a somewhat common occurrence...   when it happened to me it was
actually the oil filter seal....   what weight oil are you running?  Here's
the way I see it:

Start cold engine, oil pressure is damn high

Rev engine to move car, oil pressure is higher yet

I have not verified the existance of a pressure release valve anywhere in
the system, but assume there has to be one.  If there is one, it's stuck

High oil pressure tries to escape anywhere it can....   blows out one of the
rubber orings (filter or cooler) and then starts spitting all the oil out,
leaving a nice trail on the road, rustproofing your car, etc.

First thing to do is take your filter off and see if the oring is in it's
groove.  If it's not, there's no need to take the cooler off.  Put the o
ring back in (or just get a new filter) and put it back on...   *tight*
(only time I've ever used a wrench to tighten a filter)

Fill with thinner oil...   from my experience, once the light comes on on
level ground it's 3 quarts low  :)

Remind yourself to let the car really warm up before revving so you don't
have to do this again

John

lotsa stuff
http://www.prod.net/jvanvuren




> Last night I mentioned to a friend how reliable my 250k+ rocco has been.
I
> then mention that I shouldn't have said that, which now I know I shouldn't
> have....
>
> She blew the oil cooler seal this AM in a supermarket parking lot a mile
> from my house.  Could be much worse, I know.  At least that's what I
believe
> happened.  Check out the replay and verify or correct:
>
> 1) Start up, go to gas station.
> 2) Start up, go to supermarket.
> 3) Start up, smell oil (thinking it's some clod next to me who doesn't
take
> care of his vehicle - LOL!)
> 4) See the oil pressure light blink off/on a few times out of the corner
of
> my eye.
> 5) Turn it off, check underneath, and there is 1/3 of my oil (estimated)
in
> a puddle.
>
> Now...
>
> A) It's somewhat frothy and discolored, which I believe is due to a
> developing headgasket leak (I do eat coolant these days)
> B) Hard to diagnosis in 30 degree weather on cold asphalt when you are
> looking at a grimy engine that should have been degreased for just such
> occasions.  But it did look centralized under the filter.
>
> Finally...
>
> As I am looking around the parking lot, I notice a trail of oil (not
light,
> but not heavy) that I produced coming into the parking lot.  After walking
a
> mile or so home and coming to the street I live on, I notice this trail of
> oil that I produced right when I left this AM.  So it was leaking then,
and
> blew up in the supermarket parking lot on the 3rd startup of the AM.  This
> is what I believe happened.  Could just have continued leaking while I was
> in the supermarket, though.
>
> I am trying to get a consensus on this as I want/need to get it fixed
(work
> vehicle) this weekend, especially since it's supposed to be nice (well, in
> the 40's, which is apparently nice this winter).  I understand these oil
> cooler seals blow from time to time?  This is original with 250k+ on it.
>
> I figure if it was a sudden burst, I can only see it as being that cooler
> seal.  The rear main wouldn't produce such a large puddle that quickly as
it
> would have to slowly leak out of the tranny, and my clutching was/is fine.
> The oil pan gasket has been replaced before and it didn't look as if it
came
> from that area.  The oil filter itself was not completely covered in oil,
> which I think would probably happen if the oil filter seal went out.  It
> does look as if the block itself took a bit of a wash behind the oil
cooler.
> Anyone have any probable thoughts that run counter to this line of
> diagnosis?
>
> Bored at home,
> -PK
>
>
>
> --
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>
>


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