The starboard oil cooler started to leak and when we pulled it we found a crack around the girth of the casing. It has been in the boat for 20 years, 1,000 hours and was pulled and descaled about 400 hours ago. Has anyone experienced something like this or have any suggestions? Now I'm worried about the port engine. If that cooler had let go completely it would have dumped 3 gallons of lube oil into the bilge and mad a huge mess!
The round piece is a locating peg on the bottom of the casing that centers in a hole in the saddle the oil cooler straps in to. I'm thinking the straps may have been overtightened causing pressure against the oil pipes which over time along with engine vibration caused a stress crack.
What kind of cooler is it? I mean is it attached (like part of the engine) to the engine like a Cummins would have or is it a cooler that is mounted on brackets that is mounted (usually on the side) like a mercruiser type.
20 yrs and 1000hrs...just might have been time. I would inspect the other one. Remove all the paint and look close or have it pressure tested.
3 gallons of oil in the bilge is a huge mess....ask me how I know...smh
I will be honest, I dont know what was worse....a few gallons of oil in my bilge or the 3 dozen fiddler crabs that escaped into my bilge and lived there a whole season....lol
As Frank said the type of oil cooler might help. On my Cummins, I had a trans cooler go but that is only 3 quarts of oil pumped out throught he exhausts before we realized. it. I was told about 8 years is normally for them, but Bob Lilco swears his are on his boat way longer.
If they have sea water running cooling them, I think the life is limited even if they are copper or Cuprous Nickle.
I think 20 years is a good life and I would probably replace the other side. If one goes the other can noy be that far behind.
They are Yanmar 6LP’s . The oil coolers mount on a side bracket and connect to the engine with rigid copper pipes. I hadn’t considered things like this could have a life expectancy but that seems to be what I’m hearing. Now I’m thinking I’ll replace both. We get pretty far north so it would be a long twisty, turny way back to a mechanic if it were even possible on one engine with my small rudders.
Replaced the starboard oil cooler with an aftermarket unit. Can't remember the mfr but the service provider has used and been happy with them. Yanmar oil coolers run about $1600, this was several hundred less but not cheap. The parts are expensive but its the mechanic's hours at $140/hour that add up. We discussed replacing the port oil cooler as well but he recommended against it. Said he has rarely seen an oil cooler fail and mine was an outlier.
Thanks for the input guys, it was helpful to talk with those who have gone through this already.
