My oil cooler separated the other day on my Gen IV 454. The part the water line connect to just blew off. Oil still looks good so I was thinking about just having someone weld it instead of spending $500 on a new one. Thoughts?

radiator shop can usually put them back together.. if not, plenty of upgraded ones out there for less than an oem unit.

Ayuh,.... They're just soldered together,....

I'm guessin' yer's froze at some point, causin' the problem,....

You can do it yourself with a propane torch, some flux and solder. Copper solders up good. Scrounge around and try to find real lead solder. I have one popped in half from freezing.

Boat has been stored in a heated garage for 10 years so I don't think it froze. I didn't realize these were just soldered together. I have a randiator and welding shop next to work. I will probably drop it there today and see how it holds. Thanks guys! Any recommendations on after market replacements if I went that route? I assume Sierra or someone has one

Mercruiser Coolers
Go here and buy new. High quality stuff and much less $$$.

Cpperformance has new ones at good prices 229 for one up to 450 hp with 3/4 connections

This happened to me a few years ago. I was idling through a channel and by the time I realized what happened I was taking on serious water. The end cap just popped off. I did re-solder, but as a precaution, I safety wired the two end caps to each other. In that way, if it ever happened again, at least the caps would not pop completely off, making the leak manageable and ability to run motor until I got back to shore.

i did replace mine a few years back from Mr Cool i was a perfect fit,

I bought an oil cooler from above for my 496. No where near the quality of the Mercruiser. Had thin stamped end caps compared to the Mercruiser thick cast caps. I sent it back and spent the extra money for OEM.