7.3 oil cooler

[Toad]

My oil cooler in my 1996 powerstroke is leaking. I have never done one. I have seen the rebuild kits to reseal it. Im wondering if I should just replace it while I have it out. Just thinking about 230k miles of gunk that is probably inside it. Any suggestions?

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Nothing that some soap and hot water can't fix, I have even gone as far as baking them in the oven at a very low temp to get the gunk out. And you didn't mention where it is leaking from, just the connections?

 

[Toad]

yea just leaking for the front part

 

[Rot Box]

Real simple to rebuild. The hard part is getting it out. On my IDI I unbolted the steering column at the box and moved it aside. Removed the fender skirt as well. I was able to wiggle it out the bottom towards the rear after that. I flushed the oil out of mine with solvent and it was a royal pita without much gain. I'd just install o-rings, poke out he coolant holes with a long piece of welding rod and put it back together. Make sure you lube up the new o-rings

Speaking of o-rings, I would only buy them from Ford or IH. Some of the parts store kits I've seen use Buna and/or silicon o-rings which aren't as good. Make sure the old gasket is completely scraped off the engine block. I missed a tiny sliver of gasket material and had to start all over again.


Hope that helps. This one is a good article: http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?44702-Oil-cooler-reseal

 

[bryson]

Kiel has/had a 6.0 oil cooler for sale. If he still has that, it is likely worth installing instead of bothering with your old, dirty and leaky one... I'm thinking the 6.0 coolers are a big step up from the older ones as far as efficiency goes.

http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php?98538-6-0-ford-superduty-trans-cooler&highlight=cooler

 

[Rot Box]

The 6.9, 7.3 IDI's and 7.3 Power Stroke use a unique oil cooler that bolts to the drivers side of the engine block. It is a water to oil type design which uses engine coolant to cool the oil.

I've pulled two of these apart over the years that were on the brink of failure. Sometimes they fail bad enough you loose all your oil on the road or oil pumps into the coolant neither of which would be any fun. Figured I'd mention this many people with this engine don't realize the cooler is there. It is well worth rebuilding it if the history is unknown. Costs about $50 and takes an afternoon.

 

[bryson]

The 6.9, 7.3 IDI's and 7.3 Power Stroke use a unique oil cooler that bolts to the drivers side of the engine block. It is a water to oil type design which uses engine coolant to cool the oil.

I've pulled two of these apart over the years that were on the brink of failure. Sometimes they fail bad enough you loose all your oil on the road or oil pumps into the coolant neither of which would be any fun. Figured I'd mention this many people with this engine don't realize the cooler is there. It is well worth rebuilding it if the history is unknown. Costs about $50 and takes an afternoon.

Good info - I probably should have known that (I've owned a couple 7.3s...) and I have had a few Cummins trucks that use a similar setup for the automatic trans. Are the Ford ones enough of an issue that it would be worth bypassing them and using a air/oil style instead, or are they pretty reliable once you address the O-rings and clean them out?

 

[Rot Box]

Are the Ford ones enough of an issue that it would be worth bypassing them and using a air/oil style instead, or are they pretty reliable once you address the O-rings and clean them out?

For the most part I think they are plenty reliable and do the job. From what I've seen most of the ones that have issues are well over a decade old with high miles. If I bought a used truck I would put that towards the top of my to-do list. After that I don't think replacing them every 150k would be a bad idea.

 

[littlyota]

Just did this rebuild a few weeks ago. I ordered the o-rings from Amazon.

Took me about 4 hours. Be ready for the biggest mess ever. I drained the oil and the coolant from the block before I removed it.

Not a hard job, but you could not pay me to do another one.