Replacing oil cooler seals

[TheShane]

Hi all,
I have had a pretty terrible oil leak for some time now and I finally decided to do something about it. After searching TheSamba I concluded that my leak was either oil pressure sender unit or oil cooler seals. I replace the oil pressure sender and it didn’t fix the leak so that left the oil cooler seals. In the search process I read several posts saying you had to drop the engine to replace the seals and several saying you didn't have to drop the engine. I didn't drop the engine and here are a few pics documenting the process. These are the only pics I took, I didn’t feel like cleaning up and stopping to take a pic every time I made progress. This is my first "how-to-ish" post so hopefully it helps someone out.

Just for kicks...before pics:

Removed the bumper:

Removed exhaust:

Removed fan, alternator, and coil:

Removed fan shroud and oil cooler:

The culprits:

It was a pretty simple job. I even found a few things that needed some attention in the process. Best part of it all is that it doesn’t leak oil! Well...it doesn’t leak much oil at all! 60 cents for oil cooler seals and about 5 hours of my Saturday sure beat the heck out of paying my mechanic $350 to put them in. If anyone is considering this job, do it.

-Shane
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'78 Sunroof Bus

Central KY VW Club

[calebmelvin]

Dang that is one clean engine bay. To be honest, I was expecting a mess until I got to the picture with it open. Nice bus!
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Caleb
'68 Tagged Manx | My Wanted Ads
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[greenbus pilot]

[TheShane]

Thanks guys. I learned the hard way about how a VW engine should be treated so I vowed to keep this one in great shape. Unfortunately for it but fortunately for me this was my first and only car, I have been daily driving it for about 4 years now and I have learned a lot.
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'78 Sunroof Bus

Central KY VW Club

[otiswesty]

Nice writeup.

Funky breather on top of the case. Is the motor from something else, not like a 78 bus that I know of?
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1978 Sage Green P22 Westfalia
1989 T3 Syncro Single cab

Just a regular guy

[TheShane]

Ah, I should have made note of that. Good eye. It's from a Vanagon, I think one of the pics had a picture with the two dipsticks in it. I took care of that too while I was in there.
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'78 Sunroof Bus

Central KY VW Club

[BryanNAutumn]

1. Thanks for the post!
2. Nice paint job/art on the bus, way cool.
3. Where did you get the heater blower tubing/ducting?
4. What other maintenance did you do at the time of the oil cooler seals replacement?
5. Did you do or consider changing the crank/pully seal? I'm pondering that when I do my seals but don't know if I should fix what's not "broke".

I'm going to change my 2.0L oil cooler seals the weekend after next.

Thanks again for taking the time to post thi.
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-Bryan

[TheShane]

BryanNAutumn,

1. You're welcome, I get so much out of TheSamba I thought I would try and give back.

2. I'm glad you like it, the forum tends to not like it, its about 50/50 but the general public love it. I can't go anywhere without getting my picture taken and I kinda like it. It's fun.

3. I'm pretty sure those are original, they were on the bus when I got it and it looks like the ends were made to fit. I did manage to crack one so you can see some black electrical tape with white writing on it wrapped around it.

4. I went ahead and changed the oil and filter while I had it drained and man was that filter easy to change with the exhaust and fan shroud off. I also put a new fan belt on just for the heck of it. I cleaned the oil off of everything while I could get to it and that was pretty much it. I felt that the bus performed a little better as I also found some exhaust leaks and a very loose alternator bracket that needed addressing.

5. Actually upon removing the fan I noticed that someone had used the wrong bolts(too long) when attaching the fan and they had made contact with the seal so it was missing some rubber. I didn't have one on hand and the car is my daily driver so I had to leave it. I don't see any reason no to replace it though.

The job was a lot simpler than I had imagined and there was a nice sense of accomplishment afterward. Good luck with yours, glad I could help.

-Shane
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'78 Sunroof Bus

Central KY VW Club

[BryanNAutumn]

Thanks again for the post Shane. I completed this job on my wife's bus this week. A summary of the project:
- vw76westy sold me an oil cooler and saved me some $$, which I appreciate since being laid off last week. Having 7 day weekends has been great for bus maintenance though.
- I pulled the fan housing w/ engine in place to remove oil cooler.
- I made a tool, utilizing tire valve stems and sheet of aluminum( bolted to cooler and pressurized) , to test the old and replacement oil cooler. One of two “old” oil cooler seals were leaking and the oil cooler itself had a leak, it bubbled like crazy when it was tested under water at 47 PSI. The replacement oil cooler tested perfectly, no leaks under pressure.
- The dipstick boot had a tear and this was an additional source of oil leaks, had purchased a replacement at the Pomona Swap Meet in advance, just in case... it came in handy as a replacement
- I replaced the oil fill tube gasket as well.
- Replaced leaky exhaust gaskets while at it.
- Degreased all the mess on tin, engine, etc.

No more leaks! Dry, dry, dry.
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-Bryan

[rcnotes]

Good job!

Nice to see more people gettin' their wrench on!

[fusername]

you took the entire exhaust off? I would think only removing the muffler would be adequat. I just don't want to mess with those supid oval gaskets. I need to do the same thing, oil all over the filter from what must be the cooler, and I need a new muffler anyways, so it all makes sense!

oh, and ditch the clear dist cap. no good can come of it.
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[email protected]
Need something custom bent up? shoot me an email, maybe we can make it work!

FORSALE: Thrust cut T4 and 1.9 main bearings

[1977_L63H_P27]

Great job! it looks as tho' I'll be pulling the head off of 3 & 4 side this week, and I don't want to pull the engine again. You've given me the courage to try it in bus. Peace!
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[BryanNAutumn]

[fusername]

she goes under the knife as soon as I finalize a new muffler source, mmm, no more putting cardboard under my car when I park in friends driveways. the last 3 weeks have been rediculous. best part is, she actually stopped consuming oil as soon as the leak got crazy.
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[email protected]
Need something custom bent up? shoot me an email, maybe we can make it work!

FORSALE: Thrust cut T4 and 1.9 main bearings

[MrBluesky]

Just a quick question... How did you keep thw fan from spinning when you removed those 3 bolts in the fan?

[busdaddy]

[BryanNAutumn]

I used a large pair of channel lock pliers(same ones I use to get that high tension spring clamp off and on the oil filler spout... I hate that thing!!) , grabbed the belt tight to apply tension enough to undo the three bolts. As Busdaddy noted, leave the belt on. Use whichever method works best. Best wishes with the project, hope to hear an update when you're done.
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-Bryan

[busdaddy]

[BryanNAutumn]

[raygreenwood]

If your fan bolts have the proper lock washers....and are not over torqued....you can simply loosen them with one hand on a ratchet and the other holding the fan.

If they are more difficult than that...they are way overtorqued...and this damages about half of the hubs out there by bending the ears.
Ray