8V71 Oil Cooler

[Stormcloud]

Help!

Pat and Nicki MacPhail are here on their return trip across Canada. The 8V71 in 'Olde Violet' has been putting a bit of coolant into the oil the last 400 miles or so.

We are in the thick of removing the oil cooler of the back of the engine....very hard to see and difficult to work. Pat is certain all bolts are out of the cooler, and 2" silicone hose is removed.....but....the cooler wont budge.

The cooler appears to be a 'clamshell"  where the top piece may separate from the bottom, likely for servicing; could there be a hidden mounting bolt inside the cooler that prevents the removal of the entire cooler?

We are very much at an impasse here without some good advice.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

[luvrbus]

There are 8 bolts on the cover and if has the old style there are 4 studs with nuts holding it to the block at the water jacket,bless his heart I would not even try to remove the oil cooler on a 8v71 in a GM bus. The later model has 10 bolts with the rubber v seal just remove the outside band from the seal and bolts.They can be a bear to separate,the cover comes off separate from the back plate to remove the cooler, you do have bolts inside the cooler holding the back plate but no need to remove those to change the cooler    

[bevans6]

Mine was installed with a gasket sealant that acted as a very persistent glue.  Very hard to get off, and took a long time to clean the old gaskets off.

Brian

[Stormcloud]

Update:

After a few conversations last night with some 'smarter than us'fellows, Pat has decided to reinstall all the bolts, dump all the antifreeze, fill with water only and limp it home.

At home he has a complete spare engine, plus access to a couple of replacement oil coolers.

Hopefully it doesn't get any worse than it was.....and he only has a couple of thousand kilometres to go.   

[luvrbus]

How is that going to help from filling the radiator with oil and causing heating problems 2 k is a long way to drive

[Stormcloud]

Because the water was getting into the oil, he believes the failure is within the oil cooler. It is a small amount of coolant that appeared. He is hoping that straight water will prevent engine damage.

I hope he's right.

Mark

[luvrbus]

Bad oil cooler will fill the coolant system with oil most of the time since the oil pressure is 10 plus time the pressure of the cooling system but I hope he right too

[Dave5Cs]

We are praying for Pat and Nicky.
Dave & Doreen

[Stormcloud]

Update:

Oil cooler from the 8V71 was removed, and tested OK.  Pat reinstalled the cooler with some gaskets I had leftover in an overhaul set, filled with water and the water continued finding it's way into the oil;  actually worse, because water is now leaking onto the ground too.

He decided to put in several bottles of Iron Tite additive to hopefully plug the leak.

I watched the dribble of water onto the ground as he added the first bottle; as the 2nd bottle went in, there was less and less water running out; 3rd bottle added, and the leak had totally stopped.  Pat also added a remote drain to the oil pan to draw off any water sitting below the oil, and he did so several hours after the engine cooled and water (hopefully) settled out of the oil .

They left the next morning heading for home. So far, they have travelled 1000 miles on this "repair" and have NO water in oil whatsoever.  Another day or so of driving and they will be at home where he can decide what to do next.

Not intended as an advertisement for this IronTite product, but Pat says most of the logging trucks in his area have this stuff routinely added to their antifreeze/coolant systems after a rebuild, to help prevent leaks.

No, this maybe not the best thing to do for your bus, but in this circumstance assuming a failed head gasket o-ring or cracked head, this product enabled him to drive home, and save what could have been a horrendous towing bill.