How to Flush Oil Cooler--Best Away???
05-15-2007, 06:35 AM
#11
Registered
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Kansas
Posts: 397
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've cleaned out multi-pass oil coolers before with good results. It's a messy time consuming job... but it can be done. First off... flush repeatedly with clean solvent. This will dissolve any oil or sludge. Don't be in a hurry. Let the cooler soak for a couple of days if need be. Continue to flush with solvent until the solvent comes out clear. Drain completely. This may entail inverting the cooler many times. Next... get a good degreaser that is water based. You can go to a grocery store and get a laundry pretreater. I know this sounds crazy.... but I've found this stuff will degrease the greasiest of engines and engine compartments better than any auto parts store degreaser such as Castrol's. The name of this stuff is "Soilove". It comes in small one pint bottles and cuts grease like crazy. Partially fill the cooler with a 50 50 mix of degreaser and water. Do NOT totally fill the cooler. Next you want to swish the cooler back and forth for a few minutes. Let the cooler sit for a while and lay it in different positions so that the degreaser gets to all areas of the cooler. (You will probably have to find plugs for the cooler at this point). Agitate for several hours if you can.... Next....... and this is the most important part. You need a flushing device like radiator shops use. This looks like a gun where water goes in one end and air goes into the other end. Connect the flushing tool (They are available from Snap-on, I have one) to super hot water. Open and remove the plugs... Flush the cooler with hot water and blasts of air. Repeat about a hundred times (wear gloves so that you don't burn your hands) in different positions and flushing in different directions. Invert and drain the cooler, blow out with dry air and leave them in the sun for a few hours to make sure all the water is dried out. I did this to two huge multi-pass coolers and didn't have any problems with contamination after. I also flushed and washed out the lines the same way. It was a lot of work,,,, but a hell of a lot cheaper than buying new.
05-15-2007, 09:03 AM
#12
Registered
So you gotta ask yourself- Do you feel lucky???
What’s a couple hundred bucks compared to the engine, and the lost time. A $200 rod broke in my engine, and 20K fixed it. Thank god it wasn't a $200 dirty oil cooler, I'd kill myself.
05-15-2007, 02:20 PM
#13
Registered
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 725
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
$200? Hell, the lines are more than $200.
I have 140 hours on a rebuilt motor, using the old lines and cooler. I'd have been mighty pissed if i had to replace that stuff when I rebuilt the motor... it was 2 weeks old when the motor went.
I had a shop do the work, given the quality of the rest of the work, i doubt they even flushed it out.
I have 140 hours on a rebuilt motor, using the old lines and cooler. I'd have been mighty pissed if i had to replace that stuff when I rebuilt the motor... it was 2 weeks old when the motor went.
I had a shop do the work, given the quality of the rest of the work, i doubt they even flushed it out.
05-15-2007, 08:21 PM
#14
Registered
$200? Hell, the lines are more than $200.
I have 140 hours on a rebuilt motor, using the old lines and cooler. I'd have been mighty pissed if i had to replace that stuff when I rebuilt the motor... it was 2 weeks old when the motor went.
I had a shop do the work, given the quality of the rest of the work, i doubt they even flushed it out.
I have 140 hours on a rebuilt motor, using the old lines and cooler. I'd have been mighty pissed if i had to replace that stuff when I rebuilt the motor... it was 2 weeks old when the motor went.
I had a shop do the work, given the quality of the rest of the work, i doubt they even flushed it out.
05-16-2007, 12:51 AM
#15
Registered
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Los Angeles California
Posts: 8,306
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
If you saw how vigorously the the cooler was flushed....... you wouldn't be worrying. When the pressurized air pushes the hot water out, it blows out the exit port over 50 feet. Do that a few times and you would know that the passages are clean. Besides, do you know how clean the cooler is from the manufacturer?... I've seen brazing flux and bits of brazing material and scrap come out of new ones. I flush new ones the same way.
05-16-2007, 07:17 AM
#16
Registered
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 725
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
??
On the lines? -8 braided stainless lines with earls fittings cost a damn fortune, and a lot of guys are running -10 or bigger. I have $300 plus in lines, $100 for an oil thermostat, and $160 or so in an oil cooler.
You don't replace the block just because there's junk in the oil passages. You just have it cleaned. Why would the oil cooler and lines be any different?
When you replace a trans in your car, do you get a new radiator too? You're supposed to, yano...
On the lines? -8 braided stainless lines with earls fittings cost a damn fortune, and a lot of guys are running -10 or bigger. I have $300 plus in lines, $100 for an oil thermostat, and $160 or so in an oil cooler.
You don't replace the block just because there's junk in the oil passages. You just have it cleaned. Why would the oil cooler and lines be any different?
When you replace a trans in your car, do you get a new radiator too? You're supposed to, yano...
05-17-2007, 01:14 AM
#19
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
iTrader: (1)
I would just buy a new one but i can tell you for my transmission business I bought a g-tec trans cooler flusher. It uses heated transmission fluid under pulsated air pressure and is filtered thru twin filters and we flush the coolers and lines for a hour or 2 in each direction until they are like new. It cost me 2400$,if it was bigger I would say you could send me your cooler and I'd flush it but it only goes up to 1/2" connectors and I'd hate to be the guy who cost you another motor. It has worked very well though on the dodge diesel water to trans oil coolers which are just like a engine oil cooler (they are mounted on the pass side of motor and cooler is a tube bundle). If your interested I'd do it for a nominal fee plus s/h,Smitty
http://www.g-tec.com/supreme.html
http://www.g-tec.com/supreme.html
Last edited by articfriends; 05-17-2007 at 01:18 AM.
05-17-2007, 02:56 AM
#20
Here's the real understanding of this matter....
Parts of bearings and other debris get caught in crevisces of the oil cooler and it is totally impossible to back flush and remove all of it even with the best of all intentions.
Knowing that the coolers are bronze or copper even if aluminum, they are soft metals and hold sharp steel debris like a magnet.
The jagged edges of the debris take a firm hold and can cause a real problem later when they let go.
I too bought a used oil cooler in stupidity years ago, and am having second thoughts...
Is it really worth it, I highly doubt it ! BBB
Parts of bearings and other debris get caught in crevisces of the oil cooler and it is totally impossible to back flush and remove all of it even with the best of all intentions.
Knowing that the coolers are bronze or copper even if aluminum, they are soft metals and hold sharp steel debris like a magnet.
The jagged edges of the debris take a firm hold and can cause a real problem later when they let go.
I too bought a used oil cooler in stupidity years ago, and am having second thoughts...
Is it really worth it, I highly doubt it ! BBB
