You must check the oil cooler nut whenever changing oil, it will become
loose and cause a leak. Most likely, you don't have to buy a new cooler.
There is a o-ring type gasket behind the oil cooler though that should be
changed if you are already leaking...

mac stricklen wrote:

> After work this evening I crawled under my '80 Vanagon with some Foamy
> Engine Brite and a hose and cleaned off all of the oil that was
> smeared on the bottom of the engine and the exhaust system.  I then
> started it up and waited for the drip to begin.
>
> It didn't take long.  Soon, I was able to clearly see a steady
> dripping from something that I was only able to identify at that time
> as "the silver box-like thing that's kind of above the oil filter."
>
> I turned off the engin and went to the manuals (Muir and Bentley)  I
> looked through the pictures in Bentley until I found one that seemed
> to indicate that "the silver box-like thing" was an oil cooler.
>
> I looked under oil leaks in the index in Muir and found mention of the
> oil cooler being a common source of oil leaks.
>
> So, to all of you experience mechanics out there, does this sound
> right.  Is this my oil cooler that seems to be leaking.
>
> If so, I get the impression that the only solution is replacing it.
> $99.95 from Bus Depot--which I guess could be a lot worse.
>
> My question is this---What to I need to do to replace it.  Bently
> doesn't really say (typical), and Muir says that I'll have to remove
> the engine.  However, I get the impression that Muir could really be
> talking about breadloaf buses and not really vanagons.  To me that
> fact that I can see almost the whole oil cooler by squatting and
> looking through the wheel well suggests that removal might be possible
> from the bottom without having to take out the whole darn engine.
> Could the be true?
>
> thanks,
> mac
>
> P.S.  I was planning on ordering the Haynes manual tommorrow AM--does
> anyone know if this will shed a little more light on the oil cooler
> thing?
>
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