Started to disassemble the front of the car, to get radiator out , replace water pump and noticed that bottom of radiator is fully covered in dirt, mud and oil, probably coming from oil cooler, there is no sign of fresh oil, no visible oil leak, but i just bought the car, so cant be sure.

So what the best i can do with little effort? really wish i dont have to take oil cooler out, as i will probably brake it.
Please advise


Should i take some actions, or just clean everything and after a while see how it goes?

 

Blow out the rubbish with compressed air. Same with the oil cooler.

 

mouserider,

IME, there are 3 reasons why the lower 1/3 of the rad gets damaged, at least on 4 litre cars:

- the airflow design of the car forces air through the lower third, along with road debris, grit, leaves and mud.
- the oil cooler pipe unions corrode and leak, meaning oil from the joints gets thrown back against the rad. Unfortunately the dissimilar metal reaction of pipe to cooler means it becomes impossible to undo the union without destroying the cooler. You MIGHT manage it, but be fully prepared to install a new cooler.
- the oil and road debris thrown against the lower 1/3 of the rad destroys the cooling fins, causing the temp to rise when stationary or with aircon on.
Carefully clean the rad and, if the fins are damaged, it's time for a new rad or recore. Check the oil cooler connections for any leaks and then be prepared for a new cooler.
Good luck ​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​Paul​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

The action you should take, IMO, is bringing the radiator to a radiator shop for professional cleaning/boil out/rodding out. This way you know that the inside is clean as well. If it's the original radiator it's probably in rough shape inside.

There's no easier time than now to do this. And internally clogged radiators have caused a lot of grief.

Cheers
DD

 

Sure sure, thats not even a debate here, my concern is only oil cooler, shall i try to remove it for whatever reason or just clean it and see how it goes.

 

I'm not seeing any reason to remove the oil cooler, personally.

If the debris on the radiator has an oily quality I wonder if the A/C condensor might be leaking? Any sign of that?

Cheers
DD

 

Just clean out the oil cooler fins and leave it in place.

 

I have the AJ16 engine and I removed my oil cooler assembly a while ago. Haven't had any issues.

The o-rings at the engine were leaking, so I installed that bypass donut (using viton o-rings) and got rid of it all.

 

guys what kind of chemistry i can use for oil cooler to clean all this oil out, i dont think compressed air or water will do the job

 

Spay the fins with white spirit from a garden sprayer or similar. Do this from each side then use compressed air. repeat if needed.

 

Hardware stores will typically carry some kind of AC Fin Cleaner. It's usually a foaming cleaner, should help?

I wonder if a power washer would do the trick without any damage.

 

Hi mouserider

If your Oil Cooler has got a leak then I think its best to replace it while the Radiator is out of the Car, as if not there's a greater chance of damaging the Rad if your Spanner should slip or you drop something, so its always a very good idea to put a piece of Card board in the gap to protect the Rad, especially if you're in the process of replacing the Fan

As has been already said by Paul (ptjs) where the Pipes connect to the Oil Cooler, there is every chance that because of dissimilar metals, they will be most likely seized completely solid and will not come undone no matter what

Not so at the Engine end as they will undo easy, so its really not worth messing about, as there is always a chance you might damage the Rad in the process and so it is much cheaper, to get New Hydraulic Pipes made up at your local Hydraulic Shop

As for me I followed Vee, or he followed me in as much as we both ditched the Oil Cooler and fitted a Bi Pass Pipe, maybe not recommended if you live in a very Hot Climate but in the UK I've found it works for me and here is how I did it

Removing The Oil Cooler and replacing it with a Bi Bass Pipe

Not recommended to run without an Oil Cooler so don't Copy me!

But its fairly Cool where I live, so I thought I'd 'Roll the Dice' and so far I have not had any problems, though I do keep a very close Check on the Oil Temperature

 

Thank you for the advice, yes i heard about bypass, but i live in Cyprus, so hot weather here is the only one, except few months, so i guess, i shall pass on this idea)

i think for now, i will just clean it, clean all the pipes, get the rest of cooling system and then check where its leaking, and take it from there)

 

I was going to do the bypass, but I live im SoCal and I drive lots of canyons in 3 instead of D, so I had new hoses made using the factory ends