Brian-
I've had a leak which turned out to be the gasket between the heat
exchanger [it's not really a cooler unless the oil and coolant are at a
temperature sufficiently higher than that of the air that came through the
radiator to lose significant amounts of heat to it: pet peeve mode off!] and
the mounting flange on the engine block. This is basically the same as the
gasket on the end of your oil filter - in fact, it's against the same flange
as where the filter would seat if you didn't have the exchanger. It ran
about $5 at the stealer last time I needed one. I'd replace the filter
while I was in there; sometimes they DO leak (voice of experience, severasl
times!)
I discovered that I could remove the oil filter, and the thin hex nut
that is above it holding the exchanger up. Then, the heat exchanger could
be pushed down far enough to get a set of needle-nose Vise-Grips (tm) in
between and loosen the pipe nipple that passes through it. Once it was out,
I could replace the gasket on the top of the H.E. (I could remove the old
one earlier, since it had a large gap!) and re-install everything the same
way. This method eliminated removing the coolant hoses, just using their
slack to get enough movement.
The gaskets used to be simple square cross-section O-rings, but the
newer ones have several molded-in tabs, which immensely ease the job of
keeping everything in position as you work. They fit with lanced-out tabs
on the heat exchanger. HTH!
Ron
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2004 4:58 PM
Subject: [a2-16v-list] oil cooler leak
> I was trying to track down what I thought was Yet Another valve cover
> gasket leak today, but it seemed most of the oil was around the oil
> filter area. The filter itself isn't leaking (that I can tell), so I'm
> thinking it's probably the oil/coolant heat exchanger that the filter
> attaches to.
>
> Anyone fixed a leak in this area? What new seals will I need before
> tearing into it?
>
> Laters,
> Brian
> --
> 1989 GLI Wolfsburg Ed.
> _______________________________________________
> a2-16v-list mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://mail.a2-16v.com/mailman/listinfo/a2-16v-list
> For list archives, see listinfo link above.
>
