oil cooler problems

cool dude

Registered User
I have oil and sometimes coolant leaking from the oil cooler area I believe. Tomorrow, I'm going to tighten the nipple using 1-1/16th socket as I found out here. My questions are: Is there anyway coolant could have leaked into the oil through the oil cooler? Next question, if I continue to notice oil and sometimes coolant leaking (right after oil changes) where is the cheapest place to order a brand new oil cooler from? I'm not even sure if they still make them for these cars.

I'm not sure if I over-tightened the filter at some point, which caused the oil cooler to get messed up, but it seems the filter just won't stay tight enough.

thanks
 
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I don't see how the oil cooler could leak coolant into the oil unless the inside of the coolant tube is severely corroded. You'd see 'chocolate' on the dipstick if you had a coolant to oil leak. More likely a hose clamp is loose or a hose is leaking in addition to the oil leak. I know those retainer nuts do loosen up. One of the local SC's had an oil filter leaking at the seam of the can and the base rather than the oil cooler nut being loose like I thought. If it is leaking then you may need some sealer on the top side if tightening the nut doesn't help.
 
ok thanks. I do notice oil leaking from the cooler & filter area after i change the oil. That 1 & 1/16th nut wasnt loose either so I don't know why it's leaking oil. Just wanted to make sure coolant isnt getting into the oil itself. The oil is very clean when i check.
 
The seal on the top side of the cooler is basically just a thick oil filter gasket. The cheapest way to get one would be to open filter boxes until you find one you like, then buy that filter for the gasket. Or you could get a "lathe cut seal" made to the proper size without too much trouble.

The oil cooler is made with stacked plates, and it is possible for it to leak from oil to coolant or coolant to oil, if it was rusted or mechanically damaged. They aren't made for this application anymore. However, they are made for dozens of other ones. If you went poking around a pick-n-pull for a day, you could find some to swap in. They would just have to match in terms of filter diameter and filter thread. So I guess an oil filter cross reference chart might be a good starting point for that. You might also have to adapt the soft hoses to meet up with the hard lines on a different model's cooler.

They are a patented product made by Modine, called the "donut" oil cooler.
 
If it wasn't the filter itself leaking it was probably the seal on the top side of the cooler.


When you say top side of the cooler, are you referring to the side that the oil filter itself presses up against? If so, there is no gasket or seal there. The only thing seperating the filter from the cooler is the seal on the filter itself.
 
There is a gasket similar to the one on the oil filter between the cooler block and the pump/timing cover. The center nut/bolt that holds the cooler block on is the one that the filter screws onto. They all make one big sandwich. In some cases, all you need to do is tighten that large center nut/bolt, in others, you need to replace the gasket between the pump and the cooler block, and I guess in some you need to replace the cooler block if it has been damaged.

| ........pump....... |
_____ gasket _____
________________
| ...cooler block... |
| ...cooler block... |
________________
: . large nut/bolt . :
________________
| filter with gasket |
| filter with gasket |
| filter with gasket |
| filter with gasket |
| filter with gasket |
________________
 
No, I mean the side that mates to the oil pump. There is a surface that basically fits an oil filter but the cooler mates to it instead. That's why an oil filter gasket from an used filter will work. Like the diagram above shows.
 
Being quite new to the real technical specifics of the SC engine, Ford never ceases to amaze me.....an oil cooler, too. I had no idea. It's little touches and attention to detail like that, that made the car so expensive to produce, and that much more heavy in terms of weight. Well, more hassles with things down the line too, I guess, but these engines were way ahead of their time.
 
Being quite new to the real technical specifics of the SC engine, Ford never ceases to amaze me.....an oil cooler, too. I had no idea. It's little touches and attention to detail like that, that made the car so expensive to produce, and that much more heavy in terms of weight. Well, more hassles with things down the line too, I guess, but these engines were way ahead of their time.

I agree. The motors are a bit confusing to work on as I'm finding out going from a 3.8 na to SC. Plus all the leaks these cars are prone to. I'm to the point of considering selling mine but worried I'll regret it.
 
I agree. The motors are a bit confusing to work on as I'm finding out going from a 3.8 na to SC. Plus all the leaks these cars are prone to. I'm to the point of considering selling mine but worried I'll regret it.

Nobody said anything great was ever easy. :D

I find it cool that some of the same parts are interchangeable between my '99 3.8 Mustang and the SC....like the coil pack and oil filter, for example.
 
The seal on the top side of the cooler is basically just a thick oil filter gasket.

Noticed this morning that my oil cooler seal/gasket is torn and leaking (it is actually an oil filter seal). Any idea how much thicker the OEM cooler seal/gasket is compared to an oil filter gasket? Or better yet, anyone have the specs for the OEM gasket? Looks like, at least for my set-up, using an OEM oil filter gasket may not have been the best option (and here I had been blaming the oil loss on a rear main seal). SO, as Mazza suggested, looking for a thicker oil filter gasket that best matches the oil cooler gasket's specs may be the best route.
 
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The proper gasket is available from Ford under part number F58Z 6L621 A, it is expensive though. Sorry, no specs on the thickness of it. It is now a Windstar part number as those vans used an oil cooler when they had the trailer tow package.


cheers
Ed
 
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