Changing Oil Cooler Seal

**jzobie** · 09-23-2008 08:37 PM

After doing an oil change on my new car and switching from Dino oil to synthetic I noticed a pretty good oil leak. The drain plug and oil filter were on so hard that I thought that it was the crush washer on the drain plug at first but upon further inspection it appears the oil is coming from right above the oil filter. I didn't notice any oil on the starter so I am assuming that it is the oil cooler seal and the reason it is leaking more than before the oil change is because the synthetic is thinner when hot.

My question is this: I read the DIY for the 1.8t and it says that the 27mm nut should be hand tightened, is this true? Also does anyone know if I can get the cooler off without taking the coolant lines off? I don't have any G12, I don't know where to get any besides the dealer, and I would rather not be at the dealer for the third time in three days since it is a 40 minute drive each way.

Thanks guys

**Beemer832** · 09-23-2008 09:40 PM

i hand tightened mine and then gave it a little more. i dont like that hand tightening crap personally. technically the filter is on there so it cant back off but still.

you shouldn't have to drain the coolant either, as long as you can slide the cooler off of that threaded shaft. might not have enough play in the coolant lines to allow you to do this. the seal itself is just a big rubber o-ring, nothing to it.

good luck

**jzobie** · 09-23-2008 10:06 PM

Thanks, does the manual actually say to hand tighten that bolt?

**audiness** · 09-23-2008 10:10 PM

did you forget the gasket on the oil filter? an oil leak usually doesn't just come out of no-where

**lowandslow4now** · 09-24-2008 08:47 AM

I had to do mine last winter when i moved up from florida and you do not have to remove the coolant lines I used a socket to tighten the nut.

**jzobie** · 09-24-2008 08:59 AM

It definitely was leaking a bit of oil before I did the oil change but not like it is now. I think that the oil that I am using is thinner than what he was using (or Jiffy Lube uses).

**lowandslow4now** · 09-24-2008 09:10 AM

i know what you mean when i left florida it was nice and warm about 85 degrees and when i got to MD it was about 35-40 degrees so the little leak i had in FL got worse once i got up here

**jzobie** · 09-24-2008 05:05 PM

Ok so I changed the seal which was easy. I was able to do it without disconnecting the lines because the threaded pipe came off instead of just the nut. It is still leaking oil from that area though, could the Jiffy Lube jackass that over tightened the oil filter have bent the oil cooler so it no longer seals properly on either side? It does seem to have a bow to it and it is definiatley leaking from that area. The only other thing that I can think of is that the K&N filter doesnt seal properly but it looks like it is leaking out of the back mainly and a little in the front. I know that I installed the new seal properly, those little locating holes work great and I cleaned both mating surfaces really well.

**ModifiedA4** · 09-25-2008 07:04 AM

Originally Posted by jzobie

Ok so I changed the seal which was easy. I was able to do it without disconnecting the lines because the threaded pipe came off instead of just the nut. It is still leaking oil from that area though, could the Jiffy Lube jackass that over tightened the oil filter have bent the oil cooler so it no longer seals properly on either side? It does seem to have a bow to it and it is definiatley leaking from that area. The only other thing that I can think of is that the K&N filter doesnt seal properly but it looks like it is leaking out of the back mainly and a little in the front. I know that I installed the new seal properly, those little locating holes work great and I cleaned both mating surfaces really well.

did you install the threaded rod THEN tighten the nut down?

**jzobie** · 09-25-2008 08:18 AM

Yes I did

**Seerlah** · 09-25-2008 08:47 AM

Use OEM Mann filters. There is another one that is a Napa product that fits perfectly, but not sure which one it is (there is a thread on it somewhere). When I got my oil changed for the first time after receiving my car, I had it done at Valvoline. I can not recall what filter they used, but it was leaking. I knew right away it was due to the filter and not another issue. I just lived with it for a while till I changed my oil and replaced it with an OEM Mann filter.

What you could do is drain the existing motor oil into a bucket to reuse, and place an OEM Mann filter on the oil cooler to see if that solves the issue.

**jzobie** · 09-25-2008 08:56 AM

I went and got an STP filter since I am not going to use Fram and the only other style filter they had at Autozone is the Mobil and that is the same exact thing as the K&N. If it does seal it then I will get a Mann but I doubt that is my problem since the oil would have to come down the the oil cooler then back up to the other side. BTW you can change your oil filter without draining your oil, heck I changed the drain plug crush washer yesterday and lost less than a 1/2 quart.

**ModifiedA4** · 09-26-2008 06:44 AM

Originally Posted by jzobie

Yes I did

then i would redo the whole thing, make sure the block flange is clean. maybe some of the old seal dried out and stuck to flange and is creating the leak. the flange should be clean and scratch free. prelube and replacement seal with motor oil.

**jzobie** · 09-28-2008 12:34 AM

yeah I got it really clean so now I think that it is time to look into getting a new oil cooler.

**schearer225** · 06-26-2010 09:50 AM

bump, what was the end result fix?? i seem to be having the same problem. Thinking about switching back to the smaller oil filters instead of these arger size ones, if you compare the 2, the alrger oil filters have a larger diameter gasket.