I just finished reassembling my 7.3 after having some work done to correct a little hole in my block. One question I had was whether I should have disassembled and cleaned the oil cooler. It's not too late ... but I wouldn't mind blowing it off if it won't make much difference.

 

What caused the hole in the block? If the cause left metal shavings or chunks in the oiling system, I think a cleaning would be in order.

 

My machine shop found a void/crack in the back left cylinder. He bored it out and put a sleeve in. In the process of cleaning up I have found very no evidence of metal shavings. I guess I was wondering if the contaminated oil (from antifreeze) would mess up the cooler ... or would it eventually flush itself out?

 

I don't think the antifreeze would mess up the cooler, but I would do an oil change to get rid of the antifreeze. Antifreeze does'nt evaporate like water.

 

If you've got milkshaked oil in the cooler it will need to be flushed out (if you can). Oil coolers are very hard to clean out, impossible if they have any metal shavings in them. Anti-freeze is pretty hard on bearings.