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Oil Cooler overhaul.

Joe Larussa

By Joe Larussa
in General Mooney Talk

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MikeOH Grand Master

MikeOH

Posted
Posted

I had Pacific Oil Cooler overhaul mine in February of 2019 for $320.  Only took a few days (they are located near my home field, KPOC, so I drove the cooler there and back to my mechanic. So, no shipping)

N201MKTurbo Grand Master

N201MKTurbo

Posted
Posted
31 minutes ago, Mark89114 said:

What are they overhauling?  Seems to me if ain’t broke, don’t fix it…..

I’ve talked to them about that. They say they are amazed how much gunk is in there. 

I just take them and put them in the parts washer, stick the nozzle in one port and let it run for about a half hour, then switch ports and let it run for another half hour. Then I blow it out with compressed air, then fill it with clean solvent and slosh it a bit and then dump it out, blow out again and let it dry for a while.

  • Like 4
PT20J Grand Master

PT20J

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Mark89114 said:

What are they overhauling?  Seems to me if ain’t broke, don’t fix it…..

In my case, the engine was making metal so I wanted a thorough cleaning and it was pretty inexpensive. It turned out to be a good deal because they welded up a hairline crack that had just started and of which I was unaware. Here's a description of their process. https://www.oilcoolers.com/overhaul-process/

 

  • Like 1
carusoam Grand Master

carusoam

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, Mark89114 said:

What are they overhauling?  Seems to me if ain’t broke, don’t fix it…..


More of a WHY are they overhaulin…..?

Some people are seeing higher oil temps than expected….

First level of defense… checking on the oil temp control valve…. A put in pot of water and raise the temp, observe the valve in action…

Some vernatherms go bad…

 

When the vernatherm is good, but the oil is still hot…

Something may have gone wrong with the oil cooler itself…

 

With so many tubes in the cooler, stuff can easily collect in the tubes…

That stuff… is the sludge that has a tendency to collect in the oil pan as well…

 

Some oil coolers have lived a harder life than others… their fins have been flattened… restoring airflow through the fins is also done at OH…

There isn’t much to the oil cooler itself…. It is pretty easy to inspect and determine if it is still in the same condition as it is supposed to be when it was installed originally…

 

not a lot of reasons to mess with it until OilT is challenging to control…

PP thoughts only… not a mechanic…

Best regards,

-a-

  • Like 1
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, Mark89114 said:

What are they overhauling?  Seems to me if ain’t broke, don’t fix it…..

If you've ever seen the sludge that builds up inside a crankshaft, you'd understand the need for overhauling an oil cooler.

Clarence

A64Pilot Grand Master

A64Pilot

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, Will.iam said:

Can that sludge be removed with an additive right before an oil drain?

Not really, your best bet is frequent oil changes, oil has detergent properties and will hold stuff in suspension, of course draining oil ASAP after a flight to keep stuff from settling out is also a good idea. Try to avoid additives as it could have unintended consequences.

”combs” meant for straightening fins are available and work pretty good

https://www.amazon.com/Conditioner-Condenser-Straightener-Conditioning-Accessory/dp/B07WRYLSP7/ref=sr_1_20?crid=2L3OXFU6L8F6H&keywords=air+conditioner+fin+comb+straightener&qid=1650234287&sprefix=airconditioner+fin+%2Caps%2C207&sr=8-20

Edited by A64Pilot
EricJ Grand Master

EricJ

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I have found that some 3C tweezers and patience is all you need to straighten the fins.

Haven't tried it on an aviation oil cooler, but the cheapie radiator fin combs work well on radiators, power steering coolers, etc.    Harbor Freight used to sell a nice set but I can't find them on their site any more.

Like this, though:

https://www.amazon.com/Allstar-ALL10680-Radiator-Fin-Comb/dp/B006K8GKBO

 

Ragsf15e Grand Master

Ragsf15e

Posted
Posted

I sent mine to pacific last year and they said it had “internal corrosion” and they were unable to overhaul it.  I was disappointed… I ended up with a new one through Spruce for about $600ish.

  • Like 1
N201MKTurbo Grand Master

N201MKTurbo

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, EricJ said:

Haven't tried it on an aviation oil cooler, but the cheapie radiator fin combs work well on radiators, power steering coolers, etc.    Harbor Freight used to sell a nice set but I can't find them on their site any more.

Like this, though:

https://www.amazon.com/Allstar-ALL10680-Radiator-Fin-Comb/dp/B006K8GKBO

 

I’ve tried combs, they caused more damage than good. I’ve found just straightening them one fin at a time gives the best results. I can do the whole cooler in about 1/2 hour. 
 

on the J it isn’t an issue. On the F with the cooler on the front of the cowling, flying through the rain will bend them all over.

  • Like 2
carusoam Grand Master

carusoam

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Will.iam said:

Can that sludge be removed with an additive right before an oil drain?

If you like mass transport calculations…

Determine the concentration and time for the cleaner to move from the surface to the bottom of the muck….

Then get it to flow out….

Chances are, you don’t put that much cleaner in your engine… and won’t run the engine with that much cleaner…

 

José used to like to send 100LL into the oil pan to clean the pan…

he received plenty of feed back from the safety conscious MSers about that…

There are definitely proper ways to do everything…

PP thoughts only, not the safety guy…

Best regards,

-a-

jetdriven Grand Master

jetdriven

Posted
Posted
On 4/16/2022 at 9:54 PM, N201MKTurbo said:

I’ve talked to them about that. They say they are amazed how much gunk is in there. 

I just take them and put them in the parts washer, stick the nozzle in one port and let it run for about a half hour, then switch ports and let it run for another half hour. Then I blow it out with compressed air, then fill it with clean solvent and slosh it a bit and then dump it out, blow out again and let it dry for a while.

You can actually get an AC flush gun and flush it under pressure with solvent. 
This is been about eight years but we sent our oil cooler to Pacific oil cooler to have it flushed out. It came back to the credit card receipt stapled to it for $800 for nebulous “fin straightening “and “overhaul”.  When we called  they said well an overhaul is cheaper so It was considered overhauled but I feel kind of ripped off because I could’ve bought a new one for that. Plus we had photos of it before and after and it looked exactly the same so anyway it was not a positive experience.  That’s the issue I had with sending in your part with a credit card number in the box, they charge of they want to you and you find out after

  • Like 2
A64Pilot Grand Master

A64Pilot

Posted
Posted (edited)

A problem with putting solvent into the engine is it may do what your wanting it to do, break up “sludge” and this sludge can get to places you don’t want and plug up passages.

As a ref for that look up using detergent oil in an engine that’s only been running non detergent oil, sometimes there are bad outcomes when the detergent does it’s job.

Usually a topic for antique car and tractor owners .

Flushing just the cooler is different of course

 

Edited by A64Pilot
Fly Boomer Grand Master

Fly Boomer

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

As a ref for that look up using detergent oil in an engine that’s only been running non detergent oil

Also look up switching a car from dinosaur oil to a synthetic blend.  I can do the same thing.

A64Pilot Grand Master

A64Pilot

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/18/2022 at 1:07 PM, Fly Boomer said:

Also look up switching a car from dinosaur oil to a synthetic blend.  I can do the same thing.

Really won’t, unless the Dino oil was non detergent, then it could. Non detergent is pretty rare now. Or it was a severely neglected engine that went way over oil change intervals regularly, in other words it would have to have excessive sludge. Except for certain Toyota’s I guess https://www.mechanicsdirect.com/reasons-behind-oil-sludge-buildup-in-the-engine-of-your-toyota/

As with anything new there are naysayers, when Mobil came out with the first car syn there were a great many that came out with all kinds of reasons why it was bad, like you can’t break in an engine with it, if you put in a car without xx thousand miles it will burn oil forever, it will make your engine leak oil, and as you say it will break loose sludge and plug oil galleys and your engine will be destroyed by oil starvation even though you have pressure.

New high performance GM cars have come from the factory with Mobil 1 syn oil for decades, since 1993 in fact but many will still you that you can’t break an engine in on it.

 

Edited by A64Pilot
  • 2 years later...

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