How you do something is extremely important. I put the silicone on the hose barb (tubing) about 1/2 inch away from the hole in the tubing. When you push the hose on it pushes the silicone away from the hole in the tubing.
I have seen failures also: Where I used to work a person used silicone on an oil pump gasket and plugged up one of th outlet holes that went to the cam shaft resulting in a ruined cam and bearings.
In a similar situation a man made cut his own gasket for an oil pump and forgot to punch one of the outlet holes and also ruined bearings.
A mechanic shoved a rag into the oil line (this is on a engine inside of a minesweeper with a separate engine oil tank). The crew on the next shift came behind him hooked up the oil line with the rag inside. The rag stoped at the oil pump!
All of the people concerned were experienced mechanics who were not paying attention.
I have made my share of mistakes too but have manage to avoid the ones that caused damage to someones engine.

hold on. how much pressure is the oil in the cooler under? isn't it just the oil that goes into the pan? if so, there is no real pressure there. if it's in the circuit after the filter, but before the passages in the motor, then sure lots of pressure possible, but I don't know. anyway, if it is under severe pressure, (cause MB's Oil Pump is a MASSIVE pump that really puts out some pressure) is the hose 300Working PSI, or is it a max burst of 300?

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Depends on the car, my SD wasn't worth the time or money to me. A rusted junker is a rusted junker regardless of what you do to it.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I also wouldn't be comfortable with a DIY hose, I would be driving with one eye on the oil pressure gauge all the time. The correct hoses are too cheap to mess around with anything else.

I believe tha max oil pressure the oil pump puts out is around45 PSI. I also believe that you are correct in saying that the oil from the cooler dumnps back into the pan and that there should be even less pressure in the cooler.
the hose has 300 PSI W.P. printe on it W.P. = working pressure.
On the GoodYear web site they have the spec sheet for all of their hoses. On of the uses for the hose was low pressure hydraulics.
Also the person I bought the hose from on Ebay sells this same hose for use in the after market oil coolers that he sells. GoodYear Insta-Grip.

Yeah, I paid $2,000 for my 84 300D and it has enough rust (only 2 spots on the exterior of the car) that I don't think it would have passed some of the state inspectins. Out here in CA they don't have safety inspections. The engine and the trans seem strong so I think it was worth the money but not much more than that.

False.
the gauge only goes to approx 45psi, but the pump will put out in excess of 100psi, enough to burst steel lines in the case of something obstructing it.

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Buying a car you can’t afford is appears to be an American tradition.
The cost was: 8 clamps at $2 each + tax and 2 feet 2 inches of hose at about $3 per foot. So the cost was about $20 in materials for the job. (I forgot to add 1 tube of silicone sealant at the 99 cent store.)
I think that it is not just the cost that with me. I used my skills to save myself some money and to beat the system. Some people feel good when the buy something I get a better and longer lasting feeling when I fix something. Of course there is some slight risk involved but I believe that it is worth it.

I like it and I think I am going to do mine the same way.

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Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

I know of a business in the area that does nothing but repair hydraulic lines on heavy equipment. Plus the biz is mobile(couple box trucks with a mini shop in it). I've seen them replace oil lines on big rigs at the truck stop with high quality work.

I think the oil going to the cooler is from the bypass section of the filter housing, and then returns to the pan....I am not sure on that though. If so, the pressure in the cooler lines would be relatively low.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

It is too hard to get a picture of the oil flow path to show up clearly on this site with the size limits. But, the flow path to the oil cooler is from the oil pump through a thermostat in the filter housing, to the annulus around the outside of the entire filter. When the thermostat is closed in the direction to the oil cooler, the flow is directed straight to the annulus around the oil filter, where it pressurizes the lines to and from the oil cooler to the cold oil pressure at the pump outlet, minus losses from the pump to the filter housing. I think that pressure can get pretty high. There is a bypass "relief" valve in the system and I am not sure what that is set at. But in general, there is substantially more than 45 psi at the outlet of the pump under all circumstances, especially when you are moving and the gage in the dash cluster is pegged. Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

Thanks for the Info.
What do you think the oil pressure might be in the oil cooler?
I don't believe it is going to burst my 300 PSI working pressure hose.

A previous owner of my S350D did (or had done) the hatchet job on one of the transmission cooler lines. Took awhile to trace down the leak, nothing happened, just made a nagging mess. Both lines from the Benzbin with shipping were less than 50 bucks, lost a few ounces of fluid and took maybe half an hour during an oil change. Just can't see the effort of rigging a hose when the cost isn't that great, but the results can be a real disaster.

Wayne

It is common for people to successfully add on oil or transmission coolers to their car, trucks and motorcycles. (I am fortunate enough to already have the oil cooler setup present on my vehicle.)
Any time you work on something there is a potential for something to go wrong.
There is a tread about how much of a PITA it is to change the oil cooler hoses. In that thread several people said they had to replace their oil coolers that got damaged unscrewing the hoses from them.
When I unscrewed the top one on mine 3 of the 6 threads striped. I sure did not want to try removing the bottom one and have to replace the complete oil cooler.
As it is I don’t see what could go wrong with the job I did. 2 clamps are holding each hose end to the tubing so I don’t believe that they are going to slip off. The hose that I used is not heater hose or fuel line it is made for low pressure hydraulic use. I just don’t think there is much risk involved.
I do understand that what I did is not something everyone might want to do.
I posted the thread as I was curious to see if anyone else was interested. So far one person said they already did it and one said they want to.
Best wishes.