Oil Cooler Repair

Logan · Feb 4, 2012

Hi guys,

I'm assuming a few things here, please put me straight if incorrect. There is a radiator in front of my radiator on EX60, has started to seep oil. Traced hoses back to hydrau tank and pump. I guess this is the oil cooler.

Anyways it has started to seep 3/4 of the way up. Can't see the actual point of leakage so must be very little and low pressure. Machine is out on dry hire at a farm right now. I went out to replace a blown water hose on it and noticed this seep. How urgent is it to fix this, and what is the SOP re containing the oil and stopping an exxon scenario with the hydrau oil, if I'm to remove cooler for trace and repair. Thanks for listening.

wildhorse trnr · Feb 4, 2012

If it is a seam thats leaking it will continue to crack. I normally use a vacuum pump to hold the oil while I pull the cooler and cap/plug the lines till I am ready to go back in with it. Once off I use caps or adaptor hoses (I have made up a fairly decent set) to plug one side and pressurize the other and use soapy water to locate the leak. Some can be silver soldered or brazed, on occasion I have to take it to a radiator shop to be repaired but that is a rare thing.

Logan · Feb 4, 2012

wildhorse trnr said:
If it is a seam thats leaking it will continue to crack. I normally use a vacuum pump to hold the oil while I pull the cooler and cap/plug the lines till I am ready to go back in with it. Once off I use caps or adaptor hoses (I have made up a fairly decent set) to plug one side and pressurize the other and use soapy water to locate the leak. Some can be silver soldered or brazed, on occasion I have to take it to a radiator shop to be repaired but that is a rare thing.

Thanks for that, it is in the middle of the fins somewhere. That's a great idea for finding the leak with pressure and soapy water. Are you saying you pump the oil out of the tank prior to cooler removal?

domsant17 · Feb 5, 2012

Well, You have to drain the hydraulic tank first before removing the oil cooler. If the leak comes from a single pinhole you can just condemed it, but if the leaks are too many, you have re-core the oil cooler.( re-coring means changing the entire core with new cores.

lumberjack · Feb 5, 2012

You can also add uv die to the hydro oil and find the leak with a black light.

Logan · Feb 10, 2012

lumberjack said:
You can also add uv die to the hydro oil and find the leak with a black light.

Thanks for that, will try to find one of those.

John C. · Feb 10, 2012

If it is leaking in the middle of the cooler, it is probably because there is something between the radiator and hydraulic oil cooler rubbing. If it has rubbed enough area thin the only good fix it to drop solder in each end of the leaking tube. That means removing it, boiling it out to get it absolutely clean on the inside and then doing the soldering.

I've never seen one of these be repaired from the outside and live. It's not like a regular radiator in that it can get really big pressure spikes. Two to three hundred pounds is not uncommon and there is very little pressure protection on these.

You have to pull it apart anyway to assess the damage. It won't hurt to try the radiator shops for advice and quotes.

Good Luck!

mathuranatha · May 1, 2012

I,ve got the same problem with my old beat up farm excavator except the cooler is aluminum . I was pulling it out to braze it and realized its aluminum . Anyone had any experience with the aluminum radiators? Fixable or any other ideas? Thanks -- mat --

Nige · May 1, 2012

Find a specialist welder with capability iin welding aluminium alloy and they should have no problem repairing it PROVIDED THAT: -

1. It has at most 1 or 2 punctures. More than that the cost of repair is most likley more than the cooler itself is worth.
2. The holes are accessbile.

Logan · May 2, 2012

Well I had mine off, found the leak, but rust was so bad I wanted to sand blast it. Mate who sandblasts stuff was too scared. Should've done it as now it is leaking worse. Priced new one at 3k. Looking at it they are quite basic, so I am going to make one out of stainless. In the meantime I will locate the new leaks, and get them brazed, as that part is at least cheap at $10 a shot. When I had mine off I found it was from a wrecker and is off an ex60-3 (mine is a -1) and also found that one tube on each end had been cut out, clamped off and brazed over. In NZ that's prob fine, but in OZ, prob not. Good luck! And thanks to those who helped me with advice above.

mathuranatha · May 10, 2012

"make one out of stainless".

Logan said:
Well I had mine off, found the leak, but rust was so bad I wanted to sand blast it. Mate who sandblasts stuff was too scared. Should've done it as now it is leaking worse. Priced new one at 3k. Looking at it they are quite basic, so I am going to make one out of stainless. In the meantime I will locate the new leaks, and get them brazed, as that part is at least cheap at $10 a shot. When I had mine off I found it was from a wrecker and is off an ex60-3 (mine is a -1) and also found that one tube on each end had been cut out, clamped off and brazed over. In NZ that's prob fine, but in OZ, prob not. Good luck! And thanks to those who helped me with advice above.

well making your own oil cooler out of stainless sounds interesting . how much do you recon it will cost in materials and how long do you think it will take ? I thought of making one myself [though just out of mild steel ] for my old farm pc200-6 as it has an aluminum cooler that is leaking badly . What size tube would you use and what would you do for fins?
good luck with it -- mat--

pp13bnos · May 10, 2012

I don't think SS has the makings of a great cooler. Yes, it wouldn't corrode, but heat transfer wouldn't be all that great compared to aluminum. My .02, CJ

pockets · May 12, 2012

i need help with a hitachi ex160 lc5 99mod is very week dont think there is a problem with the hydr pump can i straight wire the sensors

Logan · Jul 29, 2012

Sorry for the late reply, I priced up some mild steel pipe, mains and thin wall to press flat for the fins. About $60 all up, and that was 6m lengths so prob could make 3 with the left overs. Not sure about the foil fins, maybe make some out of tinfoil thickness sheet? Time would be the biggest expense. Mine now has 9 fins folded off. Working 60 hour weeks so no time to make a new one yet!

#1 excavator · Aug 14, 2012

could someone tell me the best way to flush a new hyd cooler? , bought a new off of ebay for my pc200-6 and the hose connections were taped with clear tape and could see weld slag or something thats magnetic on the tape and looks kinda nasty inside, not good. not sure if it can be cleaned 100% thanks

rgl726 · Aug 15, 2012

base on my experience repairing the oil cooler by welding is a waste of time and money. it is only a temporary solution.

holes will jump to another tubes which will be affected by the heat of the welding.

best solution is to buy a new oil cooler.

hope this help.

Oil Cooler Repair

Logan

Well-Known Member

wildhorse trnr

Well-Known Member

Logan

Well-Known Member

domsant17

Member

lumberjack

Senior Member

Logan

Well-Known Member

John C.

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mathuranatha

Active Member

Nige

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Logan

Well-Known Member

mathuranatha

Active Member

pp13bnos

Senior Member

pockets

Member

Logan

Well-Known Member

#1 excavator

New Member

rgl726

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