Oil Cooler O-Rings (1 Viewer)

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DoubleNickels

DoubleNickels

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Jan 21, 2014
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While changing my oil this go-around, I decided to address a small leak between the oil cooler and the engine block. I proactively ordered the correct new O-rings (QTY 2) from $OR to be ready for the job.

Pulling the oil cooler off, I didn't find any o-rings, gaskets, nada; which kind of explained the leak. But when re-installing with the new o-rings they both bulged out and tore. :censor:

My questions for y'all:

1) Anyone else encountered that? Do I have the wrong o-rings, or did I just screw up by not assuring proper alignment before torquing down?

2) Any recommendations for a different/better solution? Skip the rings and use paper gaskets? Cork? Cut my own from some Viton sheets (which I have)? Other?

Mostly I don't want to wait a few days and spend the shipping to have new o-rings sent, only to run into the same thing. Thanks everyone. Attaching a pic.

O-RING.jpg
 
Toyota o'rings fit and seal perfectly. No bulging.

Get the Toyota o'rings. Don't use a gasket. PN: 90301-21176

Get the two Toyota copper gaskets for the bolts too while you're at it: 90430-18012.
 
Good good, thanks guys. I foolishly assumed the o-rings I bought from SOR were OEM, but looking back they don't state OEM so chances are... nope.

Where do you typically order your OEM parts from? One of the vendors here on MUD, or other?
 
All in good fun lads.

Since I do my daily doings on mud with an iPhone, the links that I'm directed towards are sometimes redirected to mobile optimized pages. If I copy and paste that URL into mud, and that link gets clicked on by someone using a real computer, I'm afraid that California might split along the San Andreas Fault and slide off into the ocean...Or something to that effect.

Hence I use lmgtfy.com
 
I thought it was a copper washer on both sides. I guess I will have to look at it more closely next time.

Dyno
 
Just did this with my vehicle this weekend. I had no o-rings and a slight leak. I added OEM o-rings and now I have a crazy bad leak under there. There doesn't seem to be any seat for the o-rings and like doublenickel I think they got squashed and torn.

Update: Pulled the cooler and the orings were fine, but they don't seem to sit right. I got them from an online toyota dealer and they ame in package with the correct part number but they still look a bit big. Anyways I went RTV on the seal to see if that will do the job.
 
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Don't give up! After trying twice, I finally pulled the oil cooler far enough away from the engine block to really have a good look in there. I too assumed that there were no previous o-rings, but it turned out that the o-rings were so squashed/melted into the cooler itself that I couldn't see them. The new o-rings wouldn't "seat" because there were remnants preventing it!

So that's my advice - take a really good look at the oil cooler where the bolts come through (engine side). There's a generous groove around each bolt hole. Use a soft pick to scrape out any residual. Worked for me, just took a few tries.
 
DoubleNickels said:
Don't give up! After trying twice, I finally pulled the oil cooler far enough away from the engine block to really have a good look in there. I too assumed that there were no previous o-rings, but it turned out that the o-rings were so squashed/melted into the cooler itself that I couldn't see them. The new o-rings wouldn't "seat" because there were remnants preventing it!

So that's my advice - take a really good look at the oil cooler where the bolts come through (engine side). There's a generous groove around each bolt hole. Use a soft pick to scrape out any residual. Worked for me, just took a few tries.
Click to expand...

Argh. Wish I had seen this before I went back in there. I just did a ring of RTV around the holes and bolted it back up. No leaks so far. Perhaps a weekend project if I get around to it.
 
I bet your RTV will hold. In the end (since I had botched my SECOND set of OEM rings) I ended up cutting some rings out of Viton sheet. Worked great with no leaks.About the only thing that causes grief, it seems, is not scraping out the old o-ring remnants.

I feel your pain. It's not a critical leak, just annoying as hell when you've been in there a couple times to replace it.
 
DoubleNickels said:
I bet your RTV will hold. In the end (since I had botched my SECOND set of OEM rings) I ended up cutting some rings out of Viton sheet. Worked great with no leaks.About the only thing that causes grief, it seems, is not scraping out the old o-ring remnants.

I feel your pain. It's not a critical leak, just annoying as hell when you've been in there a couple times to replace it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info though. Good to know there is a groove there. I thought that was some really bad engineering. Turns out it's just old.
 
I was gonna say, sounds like you guys weren't removing the old o-rings. What happens is they compress to much and flatten in there and don't seal anything.
 
Revisiting this to (hopefully) save some poor chap/gal the headache I went through. As mentioned, it can be pretty hard to tell if the old o-ring is still residing in your oil cooler unless you pull the whole cooler out and take a good look. This is because the old rings become squished and baked into the slot so well that they feel like a built-in part of the cooler when fumbling around from underneath the car. Look here, the old o-ring is squished flat to the mating surface of the cooler:

Removal.jpg


Seat.jpg


Anyways, hope that helps someone. I'll also measure the groove dimensions this evening in case someone, in a pinch, needs to find a local o-ring and can't/won't wait for shipment from a Toyota parts vendor.
 
Yeah, the Toyota O-rings aren't anything special, any o-ring will do fine as long as it's intended for high-heat.
 
Know this is resurrecting an old thread but...

This is perfect information as this has been one of my problem leak areas for the longest time. Seems that she wants to leak all over the top diff and then it gets flung everywhere because of it then seeping onto the u-joint. Plan since it has been so warm is to pull the oil cooler all together and clean it up, repaint and reinstall. The connecting hoses are new-ish, replaced when I did the head in 2015/2016 but probably could use to be replaced due to all the oil being flung at them and absorbing it to bulge slightly.

Dumb question, the oil cooler itself is separate from the dizzy housing correct? Question is because I have a slight leak from the corner of my pushrod cover plate and know that I need to remove the dizzy to get to that properly.
 
Oil cooler is held on to its fitting with just those two giant banjo bolts in the front. Not connected to the distributor in any way.
 
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