That is what I thought...my cooler just failed..no warning signs at all
prior to "oil out"..5 Good thing I watch my instruments .... I saw some odd
gyrations of my oil pressure as I cornered about 1/4 mile from home, so I
saved the motor... Just a little oil on the end of the dipstick..Had I been
rolling through the desert or mushing along an Interstate, I'd a probably
cooked the motor with just a warning light..

On Oct 24, 2017 12:04 PM, "Neil N" <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:

> The old oil cooler on my daily driver 15º ABA had at least 60,000 miles on
> it when I bought the engine. I used that cooler for about 8 years (sorry.
> No accurate mileage). Some time after the cooler O ring started leaking, I
> replaced the cooler. My guess is that by design, maybe, the failing O ring
> gives a person a chance to at least inspect part of the cooler. My cooler
> had some cracks starting at O ring area. Image:
>
> https://photos.app.goo.gl/8vVSmhGpVnPhpgyq1
>
> close up
>
> https://photos.app.goo.gl/aGHZESQCy2ikwmzq1
>
> In part, based upon list advice, I replaced the cooler. The new cooler has
> been fine for at least 15,000 miles. That said, other than signs of
> coolant/oil mixing, I don't know what warning signs one would see if there
> was an internal failure developing.
>
> I'm sure its possible for a manufacturer to make inferior parts or have a
> run of inferior parts. WBX coolant expansion tanks come to mind.
>
> I had considered installing an external cooler on this swap I'm busying
> doing but my other ABA seems to be fine with the stock oil cooler.
>
> We'll see if I eat my words here but I'm confident the stock oil cooler on
> this next swap will suffice. Oh that reminds me  < adds cooler to parts
> list >
>
> ;)
>
> Neil.
>
> On Tue, Oct 24, 2017 at 9:42 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> .....
> >
>
>
> > Of course everyone that has had an oil cooler failure will post at how
> > unreliable they are. There simply isn't a 100 percent failure rate unless
> > something is wrong. Yes they sometimes fail but so do tires and we are
> > giving up on them yet.
> >
> > I for one do like to replace them with a direct to air cooling system, an
> > external oil cooler.  .....
> >
>
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> > > > From: Neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Date: October 23, 2017 at 22:46:50 CDT
> > > > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > > > Subject: Re: Oil heat exchanger fail.. more
> > > > Reply-To: Neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
> >
> >
>
>
> > > > Did you buy that 2 year old cooler new?
> >
>
>
>
>
> --
> Neil n
>
> Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>
>
> 1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>
>
> 1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
>
> Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>
>