Oil cooler seals replacement

[CRD4me]

I just been through the replacement of the seels on both sides of the oil cooler on a bew mk4 golf.

Torquing is indicated to be at 25Nm. I have lubded the seals...with oil...thought it's an oil cooler.

Is it normal that the cooler still feels loose when trying to rotate it side ways after beeing torqued ?

On the bottom cap it says 25Nm + 5.
+5 what ???

 

[BobnOH]

Book says 25Nm or 17'#. That's for my ALH, but pretty sure it hasn't changed.
A light torque for such a big nut
Just tighten it up a tad more.

 

[CRD4me]

Yeah, that's what I thought also. The true moment will be once I start the engine haha

 

[BobnOH]

Yea, check when you start it up for leaks, check again after you've run it a couple days. Once that thin layer of oil on the big flat o-rings gets hot, it can be pretty sticky.

 

[Corsair]

I benefitted from a different recent thread (that I can't find now, sorry)- I changed these seals on my 02 Jetta about 9 months ago. Ended up doing it twice because I over-torqued the bolt on first try. These are known for leaking if too much torque is applied (at least, that's what the other thread indicated, and my experience agrees).

 

[CRD4me]

Thanks mate.
I kept it to 25Nm plus a tiny tiny little tab of torque. It felt so loose on the oil cooler so I just wanted to be sure. I'll report back once I'm done. There are a few other things that nees to be done on the car.

 

[UhOh]

Keep in mind what Corsair said there. While YOU (us here) might not over-torque it it doesn't mean that it hasn't already suffered from over-torquing. You can damage the cooler by over-torquing. That yours spins when properly torqued might suggest that it's been over-torqued in the past and that the bolt is bottoming out due to the cooler being deformed.

Seems that apes with wrenches are attracted to these cars...

 

[CRD4me]

Well the cooler is new, so are the seals...not sure what is going on here. It drops 1 drop per 10 sec at idle. Could the leak stop once the seals cure with the heat?
The bolt seems to be bottoming out at 25Nm ...

 

[CRD4me]

I'll take it out tonight.
I feel that this should be hand tighten and foget the 25N.m ...like a conventional oil filter can.

 

[BobnOH]

Might of misled you, there is no cure.
Just so it's good and clean, those big gaskets rings will seal it up. Don't put anything but a little oil on the rubber, just to make it nice and pliable. If any of the nice flat surfaces are distorted, you'll have trouble.

 

[UhOh]

New cooler... who is the manufacturer?

As BobnOH mentioned, just a little oil on the seals. Make sure the mating surface on the engine side is good and clean (and dry).

Might want to check to see how that "bolt" thread into the engine side w/o the cooler. Check to see where it bottoms out at (and if it threads cleanly). I haven't heard of these being a problem (but I'm not exactly a warehouse of knowledge on these things).

 

[CRD4me]

Guys,
Sorry for the panic here.
Lesson learned on my side.
When you suspect a leak of any kind in that area, make sure you dive under the car.
It ended up, in my case anyways, to be one of the coolant hose not beeing tight enough, hence the drops I was seeing from the top. I do find it strange though, I thought it was tight enough in the begining (got worm clamp in that area and not spring loaded colar band).
I'll keep monitoring this though. I hate worm clamps for this. Spring loaded clamps are self adjusting and would have avoided that surprise. Always go with spring loaded clamp according to me.
Thanks alot for your help.

 

[CRD4me]

This is realy getting anoying
In no way that with only 25Nm I wont have a leak. I'm on BEW, so I'm not sure if my system is different. I don't have a nut holding the oil cooler to the filter assembly. All I have is the lower flange cap with a screw fitted into it to make pressure on both top and bottom seal. At 25 Nm there is still room to tight this. Not so sure what the real torque spec it is for my system :\

 

[wonneber]

This is realy getting anoying
In no way that with only 25Nm I wont have a leak. I'm on BEW, so I'm not sure if my system is different. I don't have a nut holding the oil cooler to the filter assembly. All I have is the lower flange cap with a screw fitted into it to make pressure on both top and bottom seal. At 25 Nm there is still room to tight this. Not so sure what the real torque spec it is for my system :\

If your saying there is a gap at that torque spec there's something wrong. Are the threads clean inside & out?
Any scratches on the flat surface?
Is the leak worse now then before?
Hair line crack maybe?
There is a florescent dye that can help tracking a leak.
I didn't see where you replaced anything other then the O-rings?

Rich W.

 

[CRD4me]

Yes I replaced the oil cooler since it was leaking coolant. I've clean the flange mating surface as much as possible. Yesterday I brought the car to a local repair shop as I dont have time to deal with a such anoying problem. The shop will probably put some RTV seal on the flange and call it a day...it wont leak and I'll be ok with that. This is just ridiculous
:\ (sorry, but understand my frustration)
I dont see what could be wrong with the thread. This was never removed before

 

[Schoust]

Hmm I just did this same job and it was a piece of Cake but extremely messy. Are you positive the the O-rings were seated properly? No amount of Rtv will fix this.
The o-ring seat has to be rite and those Tq# are good.

 

[CRD4me]

Maybe I'm just a freek with leaks. After install, I was seeing the oil gently making its way on top of the cooler. Like I said earlier, it was a drop every 10min ... again, is it that type of seal that will settle with heat and time ?

 

[BobnOH]

The seal on that thing is very much like a conventional oil filter. Carefully check it's not leaking from somewhere else like the filter housing or dip stick or even coolant hose.

 

[UhOh]

I wouldn't expect anything to have to "wait" to work. Should seal up right away if it's going to; but, nothing lost (other than a few drops of oil) seeing if it does self-heal. Maybe re-check your torque values.

 

[CRD4me]

Lol shop just phones me, telling me I need new gasket lol. This will be the third set of gasket in 2 weeks ... ok let see how he does.

 

[UhOh]

Lol shop just phones me, telling me I need new gasket lol. This will be the third set of gasket in 2 weeks ... ok let see how he does.

Well, it's a good bet they reef on it and distort the cooler. An ape with tools did that to the valve cover on the daughter's car (before we acquired it): It's still on my todo liist.

I've never heard of anyone having continual problems with new o-rings and or new coolers (unless inferior parts). I seem to recall it being suggested to check the "bolt" to make sure it isn't somehow bottoming out (or is perhaps the wrong one- I know that there are different sizes coolers so that would mean different sizes of "bolts;" just don't know whether the wrong "bolts" could even be close to being used).

 

[CRD4me]

Ok,
I got the car back.
It was repaired by very small local repair shop that I heard of at work. The guys barely speeks english or french, probably from eastern europe.
Don't know what they did, but they made it!
One of the guy told me that the seal had to be replaced because I didn't install it properly lol :s ... I was oookkkk ?? :\
and that's all he told me and he ran back rolling tires for winter season. They must have done something else?!?
Not sure I understand what so special about that seal?? I've tackled much more serious stuff on this car then this simple (apparently not so simple) seal for oil cooler.
So yeah 50$ later no more leak :s but the mistery persist :\

...maybe all it needed was the euro touch lol

 

[zmon]

I'm looking to replace the seals on my oil cooler here shortly.
Any tips/good videos to check out for best practices? How to make the least mess when opening it up?

 

[PGM jetta]

I'm looking to replace the seals on my oil cooler here shortly.
Any tips/good videos to check out for best practices? How to make the least mess when opening it up?

Take off the oil filter cap and pull the oil filter up a couple inches. That lets most of the oil drain to the oil pan. A hand held vacuum pump can be used to suck up the remaining oil. After all of this, very little will run out

Be sure to lube up the new o-rings and clean both surfaces

 

[CRD4me]

^^ that is what I did.
Twice actually. I failed both time. Keep us posted on how it is going for you.
I beleive torque and torquing procedure is the key here. I read everywhere 25Nm. On my cap it is written a 25Nm + 5. + 5 what ? I don't know and I bet you that's what made mine problematic :\

 

[PGM jetta]

Be sure not to use an extension on your torque wrench as that will throw off the torque and will not be accurate

 

[CRD4me]

Realy ??
Even with a 5 inch extension over 25Nm? Without a 5 inch extension I'm not sure how you can reach in there tbh :s

 

[BobnOH]

Not really, it's a spanner tightened to x Nm, once you put a socket on it'll affect it, extension a bit more so, but not enough to matter.

 

[JB05]

An extension should not affect the torque. A cheater bar on the handle will.

 

[CRD4me]

Ack.
That's what I thought.