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scrap my oil cooler?
rodgling - 9/5/12 at 10:40 AM

After spinning a big-end bearing and filling my oil with tiny particles of bearing material, should I scrap my oil cooler, or is it safe to flush it and re-use it with the replacement engine?

I'm leaning towards replacing it, better safe than sorry.

daviep - 9/5/12 at 10:51 AM

Unless it is something special or uber expensive I would ditch it.

Davie

rodgling - 9/5/12 at 10:56 AM

Well it's considerably cheaper than a new engine, put it that way...

Agriv8 - 9/5/12 at 12:00 PM

if it your oil filter is in line ( filter in series ) you should be ok as this will have caught ( or will catch ) the debris i would have thought.

regards

Agriv8

bi22le - 9/5/12 at 12:34 PM

Where would you stop with this sort of thing?

Pipes
oild cooler
full engine flush and head clean?

Bluemoon - 9/5/12 at 01:05 PM

quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
Where would you stop with this sort of thing?

Pipes
oild cooler
full engine flush and head clean?


There are is a lot surface area inside and oil cooler, (after all that's how they cool the oil!) so lot's of places to trap particles..

BobM - 9/5/12 at 01:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Agriv8
if it your oil filter is in line ( filter in series ) you should be ok as this will have caught ( or will catch ) the debris i would have thought.
I agree. When I shredded my busa clutch I gave the cooler a good swilling out with petrol (in both directions) till I was getting no more of the glittery stuff out and reused it with no problems. Probably worth sticking a new oil filter in at the same time and replace the filter again after running for a while.

Yes, an oil cooler's cheaper than a new engine but they don't exactly give them away.

Strontium Dog - 9/5/12 at 01:46 PM

Personally I'd clean it along with the rest of the engine and especially all the galleries in the crank or feeding the bearings etc! If you do decide to replace it then don't throw it away, send it to me!

[Edited on 9/5/12 by Strontium Dog]

britishtrident - 9/5/12 at 03:09 PM

Remove it degrease and reverse flush it with a garden hose.

ashg - 9/5/12 at 06:39 PM

When I did the shells on my engine I just flushed the cooler with thinners and blew it out with an air line. its been fine for well over a year now and I dropped the sump last weekend when I cracked it and everything was fine.