Oil Cooler failure

[FARWEST]

Thanks Drover...you just added more 'just in cases' and my tools, which I have become comfortable leaving at home when not towing, to the 'to be loaded' list on any future long distance 'adventures'...had minimised the tools being loaded...until now

[Jeeper6]

Yeah, when I bought that one I had my back to the wall a bit...
Thing is, you could go and buy a new oil cooler assembly complete, whack it in, and have the same drama 50,000 k's down the track!...as you write FARWEST..."luck of the draw isn't reassuring"...

And...when they do let go there is no warning at all...temps are still all good, no indication that something is amiss until oil starts dripping on to the driveway...

I'll carry the spare with me anyway...I do worry a bit about what I should take with me as back up...lol...Jeep parts can be hard to come by eh...

[davet]

Originally Posted by Jeeper6

Yeah, when I bought that one I had my back to the wall a bit...
Thing is, you could go and buy a new oil cooler assembly complete, whack it in, and have the same drama 50,000 k's down the track!...as you write FARWEST..."luck of the draw isn't reassuring"...

And...when they do let go there is no warning at all...temps are still all good, no indication that something is amiss until oil starts dripping on to the driveway...

I'll carry the spare with me anyway...I do worry a bit about what I should take with me as back up...lol...Jeep parts can be hard to come by eh...

This is the worst bit. Very little warning until oil on the driveway! I pay pretty close attention to my cars (e.g. caught a leaking injector seal on my WH very early well before 'the Black Death' - fixed for $200, had the brake fluid level sensor play up in the WK2 which was a $35 part). But this, caught me completely by surprise. I keep a pretty close eye on temp gauge and engine + trans temps. No warnings there. In hindsight, my coolant looked a little brown (not perfectly red but not black/oily either) in recent times and level was slightly below normal. Wish I'd known how seriously to take that. I guess she was trying to tell me something.

[OLMATE]

Originally Posted by FARWEST

Hmmm...finicky lookin thingy...is removal of the entire oil filter and oil cooler housing recommended in the replacement process ???....ie: remove the lot...bolt/fit together on bench to allow correct alignment, then refit to engine ???
Just curious ???.
Looks very easy to get it wrong if fitted onto oil filter housing whilst still in the engine bay.

I'm interested in knowing the correct way to go about it also, looking at that gasket especially the way it protrudes, I wonder if there is a relief/groove in the block to accept and hold the gasket in place

[drover]

Originally Posted by davet

This is the worst bit. Very little warning until oil on the driveway! I pay pretty close attention to my cars (e.g. caught a leaking injector seal on my WH very early well before 'the Black Death' - fixed for $200, had the brake fluid level sensor play up in the WK2 which was a $35 part). But this, caught me completely by surprise. I keep a pretty close eye on temp gauge and engine + trans temps. No warnings there. In hindsight, my coolant looked a little brown (not perfectly red but not black/oily either) in recent times and level was slightly below normal. Wish I'd known how seriously to take that. I guess she was trying to tell me something.

I'm the same , black death is why my engine covers have always been left in the shed plus get rid of heat easier................. recently caught by surprise with the tranny plug dumping on me but thats one of those things, the oil coolers are like most alloy castings, your trusting the QC of the maker..... its a common thing on most vehicles a quick Google will show, Internal corrosion could be a starting point from poor coolant blend and a reaction from dissimilar metal..... the one I looked at from a WG you could see the thing was corroded internally once it was cleaned up and not a lot of meat on the things.

[Jeeper6]

When I had the cooler changed last time I had them keep the whole thing and I took it home...on the bench I examined it in some detail and there was no external or visible sign of corrosion or damage.
Though I really should have pulled it completely apart totally just for my own knowledge which I did not do....I didn't separate the cooler from the support as I was fairly new to the VM at the time.

Like you davet I keep a solid eye on all temps all the time I have a reader on the dash that constantly monitors oil temp, coolant temp, exhaust temp, intake air temp, as well as fuel pressure and battery volts...if any temperature rises abnormally the thing lets me know by highlighting the reading...or if I want I can have an alarm sound...plus I leave the trans temp on display in the evic. Oil pressure is in the SRT readout.
Anyway, none of the temps were anywhere abnormal when the thing started leaking everywhere...

I hadn't paid attention to the coolant colour, it had been changed not that long prior as I had a radiator flush carried out and new coolant.
Maybe that had weakened the cooler...who knows. I put the failure down to the heavy thumping of the front end while off roading that day...

[Jeeper6]

This is the video of the fellow replacing the cooler in the RAM...similar job I guess, though the cooler itself looks a tad different in that it has a coolant pipe out the top of the cooler itself...the Jeep one doesn't.

Ram Ecodiesel Oil filter cooler housing replacement (leak) - YouTube

Also Jeep replacement job...

Ecodiesel Grand Cherokee Oil Cooler Replacement - Part 1 - YouTube