Oil Cooler Access (1 Viewer)

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1973Guppie

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View attachment 963165 Just finished recently a full head job with supercharger on my 1996 fzj80. Took the family to the mountains a week ago and upon returning realized that my oil level was scary low (light came on).

I have been searching for the leak and found it in the top portion of the oil cooler. I did take the oil cooler off and cleaned it up and reassembled with the OEM gasket. No idea how it is leaking?

I am trying to avoid having to take the blower, and manifolds off. Wondering if it is possible for me to access it without removing all of that stuff? I am going to try and pull the heat shields and see if I can get my hands up in there. I have already removed the air box.

Wondering if anyone else has had and issue with the oil cooler leaking and what it was. I believe there is a column rounded portion on the cover that has a plug on the top and bottom? I am thinking it might be that top plug that is leaking?

also wondering if anyone has been succesful in reaching the oil cooler without taking all this stuff off?

I went through some old pics, I am thinking it is that top plug that is leaking? looks like I should be able to get to it if I pull the blower portion off.
 
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had to pull the blower, plenum and front heat shield

sigh, so I got everything apart and I am 99% sure that the leaking was coming from that top plug in the oil cooler, red circle, decided to tighten it some and ended up cracking the housing on top. The crack was about 1/8 inch long downward from the plug insert, decided that I did not want to have to find a new oil cooler or deal with removing everything so I decided to use some jb weld to seal up the plug and the crack. I think it should work. Worst case scenario is I end up sourcing a used oil cooler cover and pulling everything back apart. Wish me luck.
 
My dad always said "if its worth fixing , then its worth fixing right the first time".

and I agree with you, most of the time, but this was a hairline crack and this should fix it "right". I think you just have to know where and when to use a tool like jb weld. I used it recently to fill some axle seal grooves on my 80 and it worked great. Plus I really don't see the purpose of that top or bottom plug to be there. If this does not work for some reason then it will all be coming apart but I am confident it should be fine for the long term.
 
So you didn't have to remove the exhaust manifolds? Got a close up photo of the cracked cover?
 
no I did not, you can't even see the crack any longer, it was a harline fracture, I am guessing the cover metal material was probably fatigued over time. I will take pics of it today with the jb weld fix. I expect it to work fine.
 
The cover is Aluminum for heat dissipation, but the drawbacks are what you encountered.
 
Nice save.
 

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