Doing oil cooler. Is this trick legit?

[IDIBRONCO]

I've heard people say retorque head bolts (to what on 6.9?)

IIRC it's 80 lb/ft.

I can't remember if I have to take all the rockers off (hopefully not).

I think that you do. It's not that hard to do.

 

[onetonjohn]

Do they actually get lose so that the lose bolt is the problem and tightening will fix it. Or is it just trying to squeeze it a little tighter so it stops leaking, but it's temporary, if it works at all? I probably drive it once a month, unless we get snow then it's daily for a week. If I can get a year or two before doing it, the white truck should be dialed in by then. I'd hate to have zero running trucks - you never know what's gonna come up.

 

[DirtyWood]

Removing the rockers is the least of it. After doing both heads in-frame I would be dancing like Walter Houston in Treasure of The Sierra Madre if pulling the rockers was all I had to do.
Before removing the rockers be sure to turn the engine over by hand until the timing mark/groove on the harmonic balancer is at 11 o'clock--this is what the shop manual specifies. I've done this twice now without issue so approx. 11 o'clock seems to be good enough, YMMV.

 

[onetonjohn]

I"m mostly curious about the retorque, and how hard it is, and if there is any (real) benifit. If I end up needing to pull the head, I'll probably pull the engine, do both, add studs, and do front and rear main and probably pan too. I'm just hoping I don't need to go though all that (at least not any time soon).

 

[DirtyWood]

Re-torquing the bolts ought to be relatively easy. My only concern would be breaking one but if you're just going to original factory spec then it shouldn't be a problem. On my 7.3 I went to 105lbs instead of the book spec of 100lbs. The worst bolts were the few at the rear of the heads but I was able to reach everything with a 1/2" drive torque wrench, 1 short extension, and both a shallow and deep 12pt socket. I would guess the 6.9 is much the same other than needing a smaller 12pt socket.

 

[Black dawg]

Do they actually get lose so that the lose bolt is the problem and tightening will fix it. Or is it just trying to squeeze it a little tighter so it stops leaking, but it's temporary, if it works at all? I probably drive it once a month, unless we get snow then it's daily for a week. If I can get a year or two before doing it, the white truck should be dialed in by then. I'd hate to have zero running trucks - you never know what's gonna come up.

The gasket squishes farther over time. If you notice, torquing most headbolts, the last little bit, the bolt starts to feel springy because it is stretching and is a spring. This should give clamp load even as the gasket squishes thinner over time.
While others on here have re tourqued the 6.9 bolts and had no issues, I always recommend against it because they break quite easily, and out of all the 6.9s I have done head gaskets on, only 1 didnt already have broken bolts or break one during removal.....but, that particular one a retorque would have cured the leak as long as the bolts held. But he was doing a better turbo and needing studs anyway.

 

[ttman4]

Here is a link to a post I did a few yr ago about my Oil Cooler Rebuild Boo-Boo & several others responded with lots good info.
Here's the link

Oil Cooler rebuild BooBoo

So I rebuild probly 10 oil coolers through the years. Other day I rebuilt my old cooler thought everything was OK, it was a little difficult going to going together but I thought it was OK. I wound up with water in my oil and oil in my water. Luckily I did not how much antifreeze in the water...

www.oilburners.net

 

[onetonjohn]

I used similar clamps. Hope I didn't cut it, but it didn't take a ton of force to assemble. Enough that I couldn't do it with body weight pushing down on it though. Nice thread. Lots of good into. I really like the test jig.

 

[Rocknit4x4]

I recently did mine - the wood working clamp made reassembly a breeze. I did the removal of the PS pump and wiggled it out by the transmission. I took the wheel off and tried accessing the bolts through the wheel well - it was easier just doing it blind from the top.

I too did Russ repair kit - worked out well. Make sure to mark the bolts or make a cardboard template to put them in - there are different length bolts for the different holes.

I was concerned it might be difficult when I first discovered the leak but after reading up on it here it wasn’t a bad project - took me about a day working at a lazy pace.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

there are different length bolts for the different holes.

For the rear cap only.