NEW = Never Ever Worked - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

fdanielson · #1 04-15-2013, 04:21 PM

The back story- About two years ago the timing chain broke in my '82 300D and then a few months later I rounded up an engine and ordered a bunch of miscellaneous parts, gaskets, and an upper oil cooler hose for the swap. A lot of things happened and I let the car sit instead of doing the engine swap. Fast forward to about six weeks ago and, finding myself the owner of three non-functional old cars, I began the engine swap progress. A week ago Saturday my daughter drove the car out of the shop and I have put about 400 miles on it since. Today I went to the grocery store and when I got home I found that the new upper oil cooler hose has sprung a leak at the junction between the rubber and hard line and sprayed oil all over the engine compartment. I have no hopes that anyone is going to warranty a hose that I bought in July of 2011. The sixty some odd dollars for a new hose really isn't all that bad but taking the time to procure a new hose and then replace it while explaining to my girlfriend that I need to use her car _again_ is what really sucks. I'm almost tempted to do the cheesy hose clamp repair just so I don't have to take the darn car apart again.

Simpler=Better · #2 04-15-2013, 04:24 PM

Buy "fuel injection style" hose clamps, and limp it like that until a new hose gets in. check your clamps regularly, and keep a sharp eye on the oil pressure while driving.

dude99 · #3 04-15-2013, 04:27 PM

The fittings are barbed on the hose side. There's nothing wrong with replacing just the hose part of the line. I used T-bar style clamps on my 79 when I did this and it was fine, didn't leak a drop.

mach4 · #4 04-15-2013, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdanielson

Today I went to the grocery store and when I got home I found that the new upper oil cooler hose has sprung a leak at the junction between the rubber and hard line and sprayed oil all over the engine compartment. I have no hopes that anyone is going to warranty a hose that I bought in July of 2011.

You could always fix it so you can replace your own hoses whenever there is a problem.

Here's how:

Oil cooler nipple fitting weld

whunter · #5 04-15-2013, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdanielson

The back story- About two years ago the timing chain broke in my '82 300D and then a few months later I rounded up an engine and ordered a bunch of miscellaneous parts, gaskets, and an upper oil cooler hose for the swap. A lot of things happened and I let the car sit instead of doing the engine swap. Fast forward to about six weeks ago and, finding myself the owner of three non-functional old cars, I began the engine swap progress. A week ago Saturday my daughter drove the car out of the shop and I have put about 400 miles on it since. Today I went to the grocery store and when I got home I found that the new upper oil cooler hose has sprung a leak at the junction between the rubber and hard line and sprayed oil all over the engine compartment. I have no hopes that anyone is going to warranty a hose that I bought in July of 2011. The sixty some odd dollars for a new hose really isn't all that bad but taking the time to procure a new hose and then replace it while explaining to my girlfriend that I need to use her car _again_ is what really sucks. I'm almost tempted to do the cheesy hose clamp repair just so I don't have to take the darn car apart again.

Sounds like it is time to make your own.
Engine oil cooler and hose/line issue, link thread

.

cirrusman · #6 04-15-2013, 07:04 PM

^ X2 on the fix. I did something comparable (my hoses are not as good looking as these) about 2 years ago and they still look as good as new, with no leaks whatsoever. I do check them for cracks and stuff, and at first I did check them every week for slippage, leaks and what not, but after 3-4 months I just saw that the hoses were going to stay right there...

fdanielson · #7 04-23-2013, 01:16 PM

The oil leaking drama was interrupted by my job and a long planned weekend out of town with the women in my life. Yesterday afternoon I received the new oil cooler line and went out to the car to assess the repair. Upon starting the car I found the leak is actually at the connection to the oil cooler. It was a pretty good drip and in the hopes that snugging up the connection would help I grabbed a wrench and tightened the fitting. It didn't seem loose and I gave it maybe 1/6 turn. Now the drip has turned in to a steady stream of oil. I have disconnected and reconnected the fitting a couple of times now with no improvement. The fitting on the oil cooler is not stripped and looks as normal as can be. The only thing I can think of is the fitting on the end of the hose may not be perfectly round and therefore not making a good seal. I really do not want to replace a brand new oil hose and find out that wasn't the problem. Any ideas?

mach4 · #8 04-23-2013, 01:34 PM

I don't see where you have much of a choice. It's pretty much either the oil cooler or the oil line. If you can't see any obvious cause of the leak, you'll need to change out at least one to determine which it is. You've already got the hose, and if it's been in there awhile it probably is getting close to needing to be changed anyway, so you might want go that route. But be prepared to change out the oil cooler if it turns out to be that. If it were me, I'd probably change out the oil cooler first as it's just the two cooler hoses and two 10mm bolts - a lot easier than jacking up the engine and whatever to snake the cooler line in there. Well, that's not entirely true, because we already know what I did with mine and that is to convert to AN fittings and be done with it.

fdanielson · #9 04-23-2013, 08:16 PM

After some ruminating on the nature of the problem and reading many other related threads I decided it made much more sense that there was something up with the oil cooler. After getting home from work I pulled the oil cooler and carefully inspected the upper fitting. There is a barely noticeable crack that is probably the result of some over-enthusiastic owner making the fittings gorilla tight. When this happens the more you tighten the fitting, the more the ball is pressed in to the socket and the more the crack opens up. This is why the leak got worse when I tightened the fitting.

Tomorrow morning it's off to the wrecking yard to pick up a spare. It should back on the road later the same evening.