Replaced oil cooler o rings today, was 50 degrees and I figured I would rather do it today then when it is 20 degrees and my fingers are frozen solid. It started off halfway okay. Drained the coolant out of the radiator and the drivers side block plug which of course goes everywhere no matter what you do. Anyways, drained the oil into a clean container since I just put the T-6 in like 1,500 miles ago and don't feel like spending money on new oil yet. Now here is when the fun started. One of the rear three bolts stripped out on the head of the bolt. What a major pain!!! Tried the bolt extractors, didn't work. Ended up hammering a 3/8 socket on the head of the bolt and luckily it worked and got it out. Pulled the cooler out without to much hassle. With a 4x4 lifted truck it is a long reach to get to those two front bolts. Got the cooler to the bench and got it taken apart no problem. I am suprised on how much freaking oil that cooler holds. Old o rings where totally hard and brittle. Took them off and cleaned up all the pieces. Lubed the orings with lots of vasoline. Lucky i do have a press in my garage so getting it back together was easy. Went to reinstall the cooler and it is a total pain in the butt to get it lifted in place, aligned and to get the bolts started. Took me a good 10 mins but finally got it. Replaced the stripped bolt and filled the fluids all up. Went back with the green coolant and will do the additive. I still am on the fence with the elc in my early bird. So I don't see any leaks so that makes me happy. It was leaking a good cup and a half on start up in the cold weather. So anyways wasn't as easy as I was hoping but it all worked out in the end. Hopefully good to go for a long time.

 

....and people worry about the little bit in the high pressure oil pump reservoir that doesn't drain during an oil change......

Drain the oil galleries in the heads sometime and see what comes out!

 

yup, sounds just like my experience when i did mine last year. Those two front bolts are a real pain....

 

Truer words have never been spoken. It's nice slammed up against the power steering pump.

 

I just replaced my water pump this past week and figured I'd do the oil cooler o-rings while I was at it. Glad I did it when the water pump was off. Makes the front bolts a little easier to get to from the top.

 

Todd, did ya get your coolent filter replaced?

 

Next time you take out the antifreeze block plugs, put these in. The long one can go on the drivers side and the short one can go on the passenger side, up behind the the starter. Makes draining so much easier, and cleaner.

 

Good idea. I would be worried after a couple winters they would rust all off though.

 

that's why I did mine like the guy in the vid on you tube...if the gasket between the front cover & that front header is not leaking why bother them 2 bolts

 

I saw that video. I can't understand how you press the oil cooler back together with the front part of it still bolted to the motor.

 

I watched that video. But my cooler was leaking at the front end. Not sure if it was the block side or not. So I didn't take the chance.

 

If you buy brass ones, like pictured, you will never have the problem with rust.

 

1. I didnt see that video.
2. I had a hard enough time pressing it back together with the new orings while it was on a table, no way i could have pressed it together while under the truck.
3. It would **** me off to no end to complete it that way only for the front to start leaking a week after i did all the initial work....

 

The best advice I can provide is use a long extension and a swivel socket and the front bolts can accessed from through the wheel well. I had to replace the front gasket on mine several times and never had an issue with the front bolts using this method. Anything small to use as a spacer (I used the handle on my prybar) to push the inner fender up away from the frame to allow easy access. Hope this helps the next guy or gal.

 

I attempted to go through the fender well. It just didn't work out for me. But it did look to be the same height wise. Probably would have worked if I messed with it a little longer.