Oil Cooler Lines replacement
Last Updated on Sunday, 04 July 2010 14:23 Written by Nige Saturday, 05 June 2010 14:28
Went out and bought an old 1996 Range Rover DT. That's the one with the 2.5ltr diesel engine. Yeah, I know, not exactly balls to the wall, but it's more economical than my old Volvo 850 and it's a hell of a comfortable motor.
The only problems that it has is a drip from the oil cooler lines, the sun roof internal hatch handle needs gluing back on and the near side mirror wasn't fitted correctly. If there's any other problem, I haven't come across it yet.
This is the story of the oil cooler line change and the pain in the ass reason why I had to replace what should have been a perfectly good oil cooler.
I noticed and was prepared to fix the drippy oil cooler lines when I went to see the car before buying, so it wasn't a surprise and the price was most definitely right, so as soon as I got her home, I ordered the pipes and a new oil filter from Foundry 4x4. I also bought 10 litres of semi synthetic 10w 40 diesel oil from Halfords.
Having booked Friday off work, I kicked off the work in the morning and spent an hour warming it up before emptying the oil and getting down to the fairly simple task of removing the front grill and the oil cooler pipes from the filter end.
The bracket that holds the pipes to the filter box and the small bracket above it, are a little awkward, but were removed using a 10mm ratchet spanner. The front grill was very simple requiring just the removal of the four philips screws across the top where the bonnet lock is and two from lower down the front. Pulling the grill off exposes the oil, cooler for the engine and another for the gearbox, behind them is the main radiator for the cooling system.
The oil filter was a simple removal with a large 1-7/16" socket. Yeah, that's one big assed socket. If one isn't available, a normal filter strap could probably be used, but would be a bit tighter to get in and turn with. Once the top was off, it was a simple matter to take the filter out.
This is where I changed focus to getting the lines off the oil cooler itself and where life took a more awkward and expensive turn. First it is almost impossible to get a spanner in to undo the lines in situ, but ifyou undo the oil cooler first, the lines won't be pulled through to give access much easier. In the end, I managed to losen it off enough to rotate the lines a little and manipulate them out of the front. I then braced the cooler between two bits of soft wood in the vice, applied WD40 and got a pipe wrench on them. I next found a common fault here. As the fastener nuts on the lines are steel and the threads on the cooler are aluminium, after some time fixed together, there is a reaction that ends up cold welding them together. This means that when you undo them, the threads come off with the nuts destroying the lugs on the cooler. Great!!
After much cussing of the Range Rover designers, I once again called Foundry 4x4 and at half the price of a main dealer even with 24 hour delivery, was promised a new cooler by the next day. This was £130.00 (with 24 hour courier) that I hadn't counting on spending, but as I need transport, what else could I do.
The courier came today at midday and the rest was easy. Loosly fit the nut ends of the oil lines to the cooler using some copper grease as an anti seaze to hopefuly avoid the cold weld if I ever need to remove it again, and bolt the cooler in place. The cooler bracket with the slot in it needs very little torque (around 4ft/lb) as it needs to allow the movement of the cooler expanding and contracting as it heats and cools. Then I needed to tighted the lines to a guestimate of around 22ft/lb with a mole wrench as it was all I had that could grab the nuts in this position.
Next was to wipe all of the old leaked oil off the chassis, suspension and front differential, replace the grill. Fit the new oil filter with seals and refil with the new oil.
The final dumb ass moment I had was when emptying the scrap oil from the bucket that it was drained into. When draining the oil, I checked the drain plug bolt for a copper washer, but found none. From this I assumed that a washer wasn't required on this car. It wasn't until I was emptying the scrap into old oil containers that I found the original copper washer at the bottom. Doh!! This meant that I had to now drain the fresh oil that I'd just put in and refit the drain bolt with a fresh copper washer. It only took five minutes, but it was one of those, dumbass moments.
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