My '88 had a leak in the same place, which resulted in a nice spotty coating of oil on the back hatch.
However I noticed that the problem was simply that the nut holding the oil-cooler on had worked loose
slightly allowing oil to seep past the O-ring. Something to put on the list to check when you change the oil and filter.

Todd
'88 Westy

"Stanley, Kerry" wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> If you have an older vanagon do replace this o-ring.  As mentioned there was a modification made sometime after the '86 model year to a better o-ring.  I also had some oil leak out in real cold weather but then it would stop leaking.  BUT the o-ring eventually just cracked and no way it was going to hold oil.   And besides always happening late at night, it happens at zero degrees - not much fun.
>
> Also those two hoses to the oil cooler should be replaced.  Trying to get the oil cooler off will pretty much ruin any dried old hoses.  I had one of these hoses burst a week after having the new o-ring replaced by a friendly, but not vw aware mechanic.
>
> Kerry
> '86 syncro, 176K
> kstanley@cas.org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff and Tamara Nelson [mailto:ramjeff@earthlink.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2000 7:10 PM
> To: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
> Subject: Re: Leaky Oil cooler 89 GL
>
> I neglected to change out the 20W50 in my 86 before a trip to the
> midwest this fall.  When we got some cold weather, I had a gusher from
> the top of the cooler for a few seconds every start.  Changing the oil
> to 10W40 fixed it.  I was thinking the high oil pressure blew past the
> seal on start-up.  Is this right and if so, should I bother to replace
> the seal?
>
> JN
>
> KENWILFY@AOL.COM wrote:
> >
> > There is an o-ring on top of the cooler than is known to fail in cold
> > weather.