Engine - Oil Cooler leak

Small oil leak found after a trip on Holiday in Norfolk. Did a 500 trip and halfway through found a small puddle of oil from the left hand side of the engine.

Managed to take a photo and found i was a small leak from the bottom of the oil cooler.

The Brazilian UGA engine has a single port oil cooler mounted in a doghouse. Strange and odd to use a single port but I suspect it was a case of the design transferring from Germany -> Mexico -> Brazil transfer. It also has 8mm diameter oil lines so had to use 10-8mm adapter seals on the oil cooler mounting adapter. Then 8mm single port under the cooler.

Tightened the nuts up a little to try to stop the leak and set off homeward. 100 miles to get home. A little leak but not enough to cause any major breakdowns. Well done Betty for getting us home!

So this weekend I pulled the engine out. Major heavy rain forecast and did not fail to disappoint!

Party tent put up to stem the flow!

Camping chair to relax on. Buckets to capture the rain from the roof gutters in a vain attempt to keep the floor dry!

Hardboard flooring to make the jack easier to travel on and try to keep the worst of the water off!

Engine ready to come out!

Engine out!

The ATV jack is just great. Slides under on lowest setting without having to jack the van up. Large board to hold the engine level and flat. I have to do this solo so makes life so easy to pull back and slide the engine out.

Fan housing removed and think the two black 8mm single port seals were to blame. The foam is to seal the cooler. Some strange dent and marks on the cooler but suspect this might have been when struggling to align the fan housing.

The black seals were quite hard. Not really flexible. I think the green, white and red color ones are better and the black ones (from Machine 7) are quite hard.

No supplier had stock so the alternative ones so had to resort to ordering the same ones from Machine 7.

The cooler and the mounting was removed so I can torque the bolts up. New seals fitted with a small amount of sealant (I know its not recommended but did them dry last time!

Taking the mounting adapter off allowed me to torque down to the correct torque. The mounting adapter bolts you cannot get a torque ratchet on so had to guess but the adapter to case seals did not leak and are more flexible.

Fingers crossed!

Refitted the fan housing and was going to refit on the Saturday but had to do the supermarket shopping!

After a night to torrential rain! The engine was a little wet on Sunday morning. Managed to get cracking but very wet!

Engine installation was very tricky as water poring down your overalls was not good. Alignment was hard but after 2 attempts the engine slid in.

Then connect up all electrical, fuel and cables. All went smoothly. Even stopped raining by lunchtime!


Fired the engine up and went for a drive. No leaks yet!

Fingers crossed it has solved it. I have been on VW classic parts and order the OEM seals at 0.79 euros each but with a massive 40 euro delivery they are the most expensive parts I have ever ordered. On the look out for some Elring red 8mm seals when they get stock in the UK.

I think the black ones will hold with the sealant and correct torque but not sure. Time will tell.