My part number is different, but I only recently realized you have the v8 and I have the v10, so that could be the difference. I looked yours up and it looks much more like the bottom part that is on my van..
My next mystery is... I was/am assuming the part directly above the filter is separate from the mount above it- which connects directly to the block... I haven't taken the oil filter off, so I'm hoping/assuming/praying that it either just sits squished between the filter and the mount or it screws on or something... this new one has no threads on either side. Ugh. I hate when getting replacement parts is so difficult.

 

I think that there may be an internal allen key / hex head of about 12 or 14mm that may unbolt the two sided threaded post / bolt.

I think that maybe you have to undo the threaded bolt and then the cooler simply slips off. Then you would re-thread that bolt back in with new cooler.

 

Finished the job on Sunday. Actual time for the job is about 20 minutes once you get all your tools ready etc... Very easy.

IT IS a 14mm hex / allen key bit to remove the oil cooler. You must have this tool.
I made one.
It's standard "lefty-loosey" out to undo the bolt. Mine was not in there very tight.
The oil cooler instantly starts to slide down when you loosen out this bolt / stem part.
I did not drain my oil so oil pours over the side of filter. Expect to lose about 1/2 quart this way.
Then the block adaptor weeps a little bit more of oil. I didn't wait long, and jammed the old stem bolt and the new oil cooler back in. Make sure you align it correctly or it might leak. It's has sloppy tolerances, it can free spin around a little bit and still be aligned right.
The tricky bit for me was I also did not drain the cooling system. Tried to pinch off the hoses to re-route them back to stock and shot coolant everywhere for about 2-5 seconds before I could jam them back onto the oil cooler inlet / outlet ports. My bad. But it sort of 'worked' if you don't mind coolant puddles.

Also of note: It appeared I had a slight oil leak after doing this. This apparently is normal. Because the oil on top of the filter area etc... that escaped during the swap will seep out and over and drizzle down the filter for the first drive. No biggie, it stops quickly.

 

This is a really dumb question but I'm going to ask it anyways...would oil flow out of those two holes in the oil cooler when the coolant hoses are removed? My assumption would be that the coolant is routed thru the oil cooler via those hoses and when those are removed that NOTHING should come out of the holes. But the pictures show that one foot loop of hose so if someone could please clarify I would much appreciate it.

 

The coolant and oil never touch when the oil cooler is working properly. So, technically, if you have a functional oil cooler and you remove the 2 coolant hoses from it, then no, nothing would come out, you'd just have to close the coolant system on the other end.
The only time the oil would come out is when the oil cooler fails. Then you see oil in the water, which mimics a blown head gasket, when the hoses are connected. So, yes, the oil would come out the holes if the oil cooler is bad.

I hope that helped.

 

And the obvious to state more specifically:
The two coolant lines themselves will leak coolant out if they are not capped off, or simply connected together.

But the above response is right: If it's working right no oil will come out of the two open 'nozzles' or whatever they're called right on the oil cooler.

Since my oil cooler was blown (broken internally), oil came pouring out of those. I looped those two hole together with hose to keep the oil in the system for a short time while I tested if this fixed the problem and while I waited to get a replacement oil cooler.

 

And speaking of which...
One month later after 'temporarily' tying off those two oil cooler ports...
This resulted.
It was a coolant (temp) only rated hose. Completely inappropriate for oil and oil temps usage. It exploded on a rural highway one fine day. A nearby driver mimed the universal symbol of something pouring below my car after flagging me driving next to me.



Bye bye oil everywhere...

 

Bet that made a big'ol mess!

 

Yeah it let a lot of oil go all over that road... and also when I pulled into a gravel parking area by a baseball field.

 

you finally got to change the piece or you continued with your trick lol

 

Oh, I most certainly did the full oil cooler replacement after this.
I found an 'new old stock' correct one on Fleabay for about $69 if I recall.
Ran perfectly after that, and solved my oil in the coolant problem from then on.

( I also did a very long Dawn dish soap in the whole cooling system trick and rinsed it all out with lots of water over and over again.)

I sold off the truck about a year and a half later, and about a year later it got stolen and the new buyer let the truck go (to auction).
And yes, if you're following this van in general and keep score that means, yes, it was stolen twice in Oakland. F the Oakland thieves.
The jerky Police there and inhuman ******* tow people also tried to gouge him badly for lots of money so he just walked away from it.

 

Not sure how active this thread is anymore, but I have a 2000 E-350 super duty (5.4L) leaking oil into the coolant system and I am attempting to fix it myself. I've actually put about 1,000 miles on it over the past week before noticing and now my coolant reservoir looks like a chocolate milkshake.

I am praying that it is an oil cooler leak rather than a head gasket (as there is no coolant in the oil as far as I can tell), so I am going to test it by connecting the coolant hoses together and leaving the two openings on the oil filter open (temporarily) rather than connecting them together, since, in theory, if my oil cooler is leaking oil into the coolant system then oil SHOULD leak from the openings on the oil cooler, right? Otherwise if I leave the openings exposed and oil does not leak from them, then I have an issue elsewhere in the system and the oil cooler would not be the problem.

Is my test logic correct here? I am actually a college student on a tight budget right now and have very little mechanical experience so I am trying my best to test the issue before buying any replacement parts (such as a new oil cooler). Would love any advice you guys could give me. Also, does anyone know if a 5/8" fitting will work to connect the radiator hoses together? Thanks.

 

I think you're in business, the good kind.
The oil is under higher pressure than the cooling system. When the oil cooler fails / blows internally, the oil gets pushed into the coolant - not vice versa.

If you have to drive it at all, what you should do in that case is remove the two coolant lines and join them together. That would not supply 'cooling' lower temperature coolant that circulates in that cooler around the oil.

The oil comes in from the top of the cooler. You can't really disconnect oil lines in this case. It's directly above the oil filter and the oil filter spins onto the oil cooler which slides up to the normal engine oil filter housing female receptacle so to speak.

EDIT: I had to re-read this thread. I know what you mean now Alex. If you disconnect the two coolant lines, the oil cooler function would be disconnected with two ports (1 inlet, 1 outlet) wide open.
So yes, if you left that wide open I suppose you could either put a large pan under the van and do a quick start of the engine and immediately look under the van. But this way - it could start immediately spraying oil all over under high pressure. Maybe a better way is to connect it somehow with any hose. A CLEAR fish tank type hose would be the best - you could then see the oil pumping into it. Even if a cheap 1 foot black hose, you would feel it swell up (yeah, you'd feel the hose.... wording lol). Maybe you could use some screw / worm style clamps and clamp on a doubled up clear zip lock bag. Maybe that could contain any erupting oil for a little bit.
You could - if you had the proper threaded stem - remove the oil cooler altogether and spin the oil filter right into the engine like it was never there. But A) you would need that shorter thread to hold the oil filter tight without a cooler in the middle and B) you would loose the oil cooling function for your vehicle.
If tight on time and money maybe you could do that for a little bit. I am no expert on that though.

It's like having a normal car, and sandwiching in the oil cooler between the engine and the oil filter if that makes sense.
I did a write up here how to replace it. It's VERY easy and takes almost no time if you have a replacement oil cooler. I bought mine New Old Stock on fleabay for about $69 if I recall.

ALSO, you can research it (as I did), and figure what to do, but what I decided was best with all the info and several old school mechanics I talked to was to use Dawn regular dish soap. I fully cleaned out and flushed out a lot the reservoir tank - properly and oddly called the 'degas bottle'. Anyway, I drained the glop out of the radiator by removing the huge lower radiator hose. As my very wise friend told me you can't get burned by the coolant water coming out - despite popular belief. I kept removing the hose bare handed after I slid the large clamp back.
After draining the junk, I would slide the lower radiator hose back on and skip the clamp, fill the system up with garden hose water and about 1/2 a small bottle of Dawn.

Then I idled the engine until the thermostat opened and the water level in the degas bottle dropped. And then I did that whole process over and over again with simply garden hose water - maybe 7-10x to flush out all the suds. The Dawn is a degreasing agent and helps get that oil scum out of the cooling system - a place you do not want it to be.

 

Alex, take a look at this earlier post in this thread:

 

Green, thanks for the advice. I will try clamping the coolant lines together and testing to see if oil comes out of the inlet/outlet. It's raining today and it's a little late, but tomorrow I will test it and flush the coolant system with either dawn or degreaser. I'll let you know what happens, as a faulty oil cooler is far cheaper and easier to fix than a blown head gasket. Thanks again!