You have a $1m boat and your trying to cheap out on oil lines? It's the cheap guy who ends up paying the most. I would definitely put new ones on it.

__________________
2005 Accord Hybrid (Wifes)
1995 Subaru Impreza L AWD (Snow car)
1984 GMC Sierra 1500 (Mine)
1983 300CD Best $ I ever spent. (Mine)
1984 190D (sold and glad I did)
1983 300D (sold and wished I hadn't)

If you need a good used cooler, drop me a line. Probably less than $60.

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

On the turbo engines with more oil running hotter I think the oil cooler is needed...

However, my 300D had the same issue. I bypassed the oil cooler fully, and machined a threaded piece of metal line to connect the two ends together...

I WOULD NOT use clamps and hose...the pressure is very high, and I had a bad experience were a line burst through the clamps and shot oil all over my engine bay. Thank the Lord that I shut it down VERY quickly.

I've read posts that the NA engines never came with oil coolers in Europe, only the ones sent to do livery service in hot climates received them. IMO, on the NA engines, it isn't necessary to have the oil cooler. On a Turbo engine, I have no idea.

All I know is don't use clamps. Thread a piece of pipe so that the metal ends of the OC lines can screw on. Apply loctite, and it should be set. Mine has been working for 1 year, no issues

__________________
http://www.betten.mercedescenter.com...n_banner_1.jpg
1976 300D
190,000 Miles
Colorado Beige

1975 300D
Parts Car
78,000 Miles
Rustbucket
Also Colorado Beige

1984 190D 2.2 (Dad's)
156,000 miles
Champagne Metallic Clearcoat

Update:
Fired old smokey up and brought her into the garage. The upper line started to weep real nice after a few months of sitting so it was due. As I feared the upper fitting on the oil cooler came off amazingly easy after being sprayed with PB blaster. Except that the threads came with it. Hmm I say to myself, I have been down this road before.

Since the AC is long dead and I don't plan on fixing it, I yanked the seized compressor and there was a lot more room than I thought. After that I was planning on pulling the lines and having new ones crimped on, but since the oil cooler threads are now stripped thats not happening. So this is what I did:

Got the old dremel out and ground off the crimps on the metal outlet and inlet lines. Found some nice barbed ends, that 5/8 hose fits on rather nicely. So off the the marina I go, grabbed some Sheilds 2500580 wire bound wet exhuast hose, and four stainless hose clamps. Total cost was $5, but I don't pay anywhere near list. Since the cooler was totaly fubared I moved on to plan C by pass it completly. So thats what I did, cranked the hose clamps down tight and it seems to work well. I'm a bit worred that the oil will soften the hose up, so I will keep an eye on it. But exhuast hose is close to impossible to kill so I'm not that concerned. Burst pressure is like 250psi ish, so I'm fine in that regard, not to mention its only about 8in long.

This isn't ment to be a fix, its just a band aid in order to keep a tired car on the road without a lot of time and money. Also this is a winter car, it only sees a handfull of days in the 80's, and is never really driven on the highway. AC is dead, so there is not really a load on the cooling system.

If this was a good car I would have done what I did when I ran into this exact same problem with the SDL. Purchase new oil cooler lines, and since the cooler was stripped a new one of those as well.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200