Removing a Type 3 Oil Cooler

Ever since we got the car it had an indecent oil consumption, and the entire engine underside was permanently wet with oil. The consumption was far higher than you'd expect, even from a tired 128K mile engine. When we finally got round to investigating this problem, we saw that oil was pumping out of the oil cooler seals. Each time the engine revved up from idle a teaspoon of oil came out. Being on the top of the case, the oil then ran down all over the place and got blown around by cooling air and the car's slipstream. On a long motorway journey it even ended up on the rear bumper. At least it stopped it going rusty.


The leaky oil cooler	Late oil cooler part#

So the oil cooler seals had to be replaced. Now the books say that you have to remove the engine to get at the oil cooler. This may be the quicker way, but not necessarily easier. We decided to do it in situ since we didn't really feel like pulling the engine as this would probably create more problems than it fixed. The job turned out to be straightforward but a bit fiddly in places.

Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5

Air cleaner, distributor, alternator, coil and LHS manifold removed	LHS Tinware removed	Oily cooler	Dirty Oil Cooler Out	Refit

Stage 1

Remove everything on the LHS of the engine that's in the way. This is easy and quick.

Stage 2

Remove the upper LHS tinware. This was the fiddly bit. There are quite a few screws holding the tinware together and you have to find them all. The ones at the back (nearest you) are easy to find. The ones around the cylinder head inlet ports are fairly easy to find, but not so easy to see. The ones at the front (nearer the gearbox) are very tricky to get to, and to see. The screw head faces up so you need a very long, flexible, screwdriver extension to get down to it. It also involved a fair bit of lying under the engine and poking around with a torch, WD40, and mole grips.

Stage 3

Once you take the upper tinware off, full access to the oil cooler is gained.
In the photo you may spot the clean bit below the cooler (where the end of the spring is resting). This was kept clean by a constant flow of nice hot engine oil. Large quantities of the same oil can be seen all over everything else.

Stage 4

Remove the oil cooler. This is easy - there are only 3 small bolts holding it on.

With the cooler off, you can see how the leaking oil (and 30 years of life) have lead to the cooler fins becoming clogged with greasy muck. This has obviously reduced the effectiveness of the cooler. Its easy to clean up with parafin and a toothbrush though.

Stage 5

Clean up the oil cooler and refit it, using new seals. Its easy to clean up with parafin and a toothbrush. On the underside of the oil cooler you will see a number of holes. The 3 smaller holes with raised edges are for the mounting bolts. The 2 larger holes are the oil inlet and outlet. They have a recess where the seal sits.

Make sure you choose the right thickness of seal otherwise the cooler will just leak again. Some seals required spacers on the 3 mounting bolts, between the cooler and the engine block. These are little washers about 2mm thick. Late (thicker) seals do not require the spacers. Universal seal kits usually have a selection so be careful.

Use some common sense when you tighten the mounting bolts: you should feel some mild resistance just before they become properly tight - this is the seal compressing. If you don't feel it, the seal is too thin and/or you have spacers where you shouldn't. Either way, it will leak again so take it off and fix the problem.

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