Oil Cooler blew an O-ring!!!

[84TD]

I guess I know what ill be doing this weekend The front header is spewing oil onto the log. steady stream.

I did search and looked through 2 pages of posts. I see this is a common problem but 2 things elude me.

1-How can I tell if i have a 6 or 4 oring? My truck is a 10/83 but its on its second engine and I have no idea what year it is. All I know is its a 6.9.

2-Is there step by step instructions anywhere?

From what I can gather its looks like a major pain. I might have to jack the engine up?

My truck is at my work and there is now way I would make it home so I will have to bring all my tools and do it in the parking lot so any advice/tool lists would be much appreciated!!!

 

[Knuckledragger]

From what I have read, you can only get the 4 style O rings from Ford anyway. Once it is off, you will find out for sure.

You have to unfasten the motor mount on the driver's side and jack up the engine some to get the cooler out, but it is apparently doable. Front header has 3/8 screws (9/16" wrench or socket), rear header has 5/16 screws (1/2" wrench or socket).

Clean the mating surfaces well on the block and headers, and use plenty of oil or light grease when assembling the bundle. Be sure to inspect the tubes in the bundle when it is apart, I found about 1/3 of my tubes blocked from crap when I rebuilt mine last year.

 

[hesutton]

Odds are that you have the 4 ring cooler, but until it's out, there's no way to tell for sure. It's a pain with the heads on and the motor in the truck, but it can be done.

Heath

 

[damac]

I did this job and am no techie. On ours we did have to lift the engine and I blindly followed the guides going around on the forum. I was freaked out when I put a large piece of wood on the jack in order to raise the oil pan! I was scared to do it then and still am scared thinking about it. Make sure the wood is thick and spread out and you take your time and get a good jack bite to spread the weight around.

Watch your fingers when in there as well.

I took the approach of taking the complete assembly out as one because that is how I put it back in. I ended up cleaning the area as best as I could and put a plastic baggy on the end fed first towards the front of the engine towards my helper. Then you can twist it into position.

Then take your time, I put some antisieze on the engine threads, put some bolts through the headers then fed the gasket over so I had just enough bolt to lineup to the threads and hand tighten them. Then proper torque evenly around and one final.

That was late last year and I don't see a hint of oil on the outside.

To get them together at home I also needed a helper and after the orings were grease and placed on the cooler(not the headers!), we used a piece of wood and a jack under the trailer hitch. One guy held the pieces together evenly, the other worked the jack. All of a sudden everything will pop together.

I used plumblers silicone grease on my orings.

I worked mostly alone except when I needed a partner. It was 2 hells of nonstop hell for me.

I had to clean everything up and getting those last bits of old gasket off the engine block sucked. I layed a moving blanket over the front clip and layed down to get the front.

Also wear safety glasses and a mouth mask. Crap will fall in your eyes and when you get the cooler off I think there is one last blast of goop coming your way

I got a felpro gasket set from the local kragen.

I got the orings from ford from the link below. Sadly my receipt doesn't show oem part numbers so you will have to search for the 2 oem part #s(you need 2 of each)

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?siteid=214072

 

[Knuckledragger]

Don't forget to drain the radiator first! And the block if you can get the rear header coolant drain plug off (1/2 inch square). You have to take off the oil filter to find it. Otherwise you will have coolant everywhere and have to lay in it for hours.

 

[84TD]

I found this in another thread http://www.dieselwarden.net/ford/project16.html

His is the old style, externally everything looks the same with the exeption of the fron header, in the top pic in the link above there are 2 ribs reinforcing where the tube goes in, mine has 3 ribs.

Is that any indication of the style? My IH dealer has the newer style for $40 for the set!! those are expensive orings. and Napa has the gaskets for $6.

 

[sassyrel]

only have pulled the cooler off of a idi out of truck---but if its the same as a psd----i DIDNT remove the front header!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pulled the rear bolts on header--twisted it a mite--then pulled the cooler and rear header out--fixed that out of truck--put the new o rings on the front of cooler----reached thru the small area to polish the front header with STEEL WOOL!!! not sandpaper!!!!!! on the inside area where the o rings slip into----oiled the o rings--and header---then put the cooler into the header--being careful not to drag on dirty area---then pressed the cooler into the front header with a prybar against the block--prying it forward-----went right in--and didnt have to raise engine--nor remove the stinkin front header!!!!!! it werent leaking--and the gaskets have captivated o rings--took near no time at all doing it this way--serious!!!!!

 

[gonecrazyi]

The description above is pretty much how I did it. I didnt jack the motor up or take the wheel off. I just jacked the frame up to get a little more room between the fender and the tire.

 

[Diesel JD]

I think if you can take the driver's side exhaust manifold and the PS pump off you will have plenty of clearance. I undid my driver's motor mount and took the oil filer off, drained everything and still didn't have enough room to wiggle it out. I ultimately failed and had to have this repair done at a shop probably because I didn't get the mating surfaces clean enough. I hope you have the 4 ring style because the 6 ring is obsolete but you need the 4 main orings anyway as far as I can tell. The small ones that go in the header of the old style are the obsolete part. If I had the 6 ring coller I'd just get some generic orings of the exact same size that were resistant to oils and solvents and throw it together. I have never seen anybody do this but man, it seems like it could work. Also pressing the bundle together, if it is a 4 oring newer style you MUST put the orings on the bundle NOT in the headers like the manual tells you. If you do, you'll cut the orings. You need a good press or a huge clamp to press the mess together and it's not together till you hear an audible pop! and is like one solid piece. If you have the 6 ring and can get acceptable orings then the small orings need to go in the header with lots of lube. Pretty sure the big orings would still stay on the bundle. In any case, considering the amount of work required to do this job, I'd want to put some pressure to the systems to make sure it doesn't leak if that's at all feasible. I hope whenever the next time I get to do this job is that I am able to do it by myself. Hopefully its not until engine overhaul time when she'll be out of the truck on a stand anyway.

 

[84TD]

Well I did the job this weekend. It was a nasty nasty job. I dont think I have ever tasted coolant and oil at the same time!!

Took me all day, I ended up doing it as sassyrel described above, my front header wasn't leaking so I didnt mess with it. Since I did it in a parking lot I didnt have all the right tools so it took me about an hour just to get the rear header and block clean enough to reassemble.

My truck still leaks oil but not as nearly much, I washed the engine before I worked on it and my oil leaks are but not limited to, oil filler, a timing cover bolt, the bolt going into the head holding my power steering pump, front main and something on the back of the motor. The good news is these are all more like seeps so before I was leaving small puddles not I am just leaving spots.