OIL COOLER TUBE WARNING!!, and a simple question

[IDIoit]

a few weeks ago, we had a discussion about why RTV should not be used on oil cooler tubes and headers
and as always there were a few people that went against the grain.
"ive always used RTV!!"
well, when you do, your tubes inside the oil cooler bundle can look like this!!!
so here it is, for the people that need visual aid!!!

and now for the question...
ive been gathering miscellaneous parts i forgot on the first round of powder coating.
i have the oil cooler headers stripped, clean and ready for powder coating.
would you also send the tube?
they must sand blast before coating...
thinking it may not be a good idea to do this...
what do you think?

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[icanfixall]

Please tell us exactly where you used the rtv. Seeing it on the bundle is great but where it migrated from sure will help everyone to recongize the dangers

 

[IDIoit]

Gary, both headers were RTV'd to the block, but there was black, white-ish, and orange RTV in the tubes.

this was not my doing. only thing ive done to this engine prior to changing head gaskets was tear it apart.

there was orange RTV on the valley pan
black on the tube headers.
i never saw the white ish RTV...

 

[Greg5OH]

eesh, thats nasty, I rtved my cooler to the block since i was pressed for time. Thin coast is all thats necessary, go a little thicker near the outside edge. go too thick and can end up with that extra oozing out towards the inside , potentially breaking off eventually. Same goes for any RTV joint though, oil pans too.

 

[Waystro]

If applied correctly it won't do that.

 

[FarmerFrank]

Loctite 518 or 515. I almost never use rtv now. 518 doesn't set up in oil so any bit that oozes out stays in liquid form. Plus it's pretty awesome stuff. Never had another valve cover leak using it or timing cover ect ect

 

[bbjordan]

would you also send the tube?
they must sand blast before coating...
thinking it may not be a good idea to do this...
what do you think?

Do it! You know you wanna.
You just need to cover the shiny ends of the tube so they don't get blasted.

As for RTV, its always a good idea to use it sparingly.

 

[franklin2]

I would think rtv used anywhere in the cooling system could make it's way down to the cooler bundle. Correct?

 

[IDIoit]

^^ agreed.

 

[riotwarrior]

Elephant snot only for this guy...rtv...no see my cooler..

Tape up ends really good layers of duct tqpe and send in cooler...

Dont forget all yer bolts....clean em super well...poke em through card board n blast em with some hi heat black paint....bake in oven 125 degree 20 min....look badazz when all bolted together....

Intake bolts oil cooler etc...all of em....be like wicked cool....dont take no guff from the wife bake those bolts....or go buy friggen toaster oven for shop....

 

[turbo elk]

Would it be a good Idea to powder coat the tubes?... wouldn't that hinder the heat exchange function?
Just for my own information, cuz I've never seen the cooler apart before.

 

[icanfixall]

Powder coating the tubes is nearly impossible. Really no way of getting the powder down in the tubes. I know of a process called WCOT. This is Wall Coated Open Tubing. Its a very special chemical treating on some tubing only on the inside. It will not build up once it has covered all the inside surfaces. As for the question about coating the inside of the tubes.. Nope. Leave them copper so the heat transfer can take place.

 

[IDIoit]

Powder coating the tubes is nearly impossible. Really no way of getting the powder down in the tubes. I know of a process called WCOT. This is Wall Coated Open Tubing. Its a very special chemical treating on some tubing only on the inside. It will not build up once it has covered all the inside surfaces. As for the question about coating the inside of the tubes.. Nope. Leave them copper so the heat transfer can take place.

not the inside of the individual cooling tubes, just the outside, so it looks good

 

[Greg5OH]

yes, even if doing the outside, it wont affect its cooling function. It is a liquid to liquid heat exchanged, not liquid to air, so coat away!