Oil Cooler Hoses Leaking

[2052006 10]

Just finished fitting my new (air) oil cooler - 16 row Mocal with a thermostatic plate. Following advice on here, I went to Pirtek to get my hoses made up, but have a slight issue with them leaking very slightly.

 

Only one of them, however. It is where the hose joins the plate. I am not sure of the correct name of the "fitting" I have got on the end of the hose but it is a straight one and screws on. It isn't actually leaking where it screws on to the plate, but slightly back down the hose. If anyone has got these Pirtek hoses they'll hopefully know what I mean and can tell me the type of fitting I'm using.

 

Any tips on how to stop the leak - I've done it up as tight as possible. Do they need to be extremely tight?

 

Thanks for any advice

 

Pete

[large 33]

If you think the pipe is at fault get pirtek to replace it. Failing that try ptfe tape around the threds and refit the pipe.

[HERMAN 33]

I would pop back to Pirtek and show them.

[opticaltrigger 52]

If you have had the hoses swaged by Pirtek call them up and get them out,who knows they charge enough.

It sounds like the swage is leaking.If you call them they will send a van out within an hour or so.

 

O.T.

[2052006 10]

The actual rubber hose is not the part that's leaking. It's the metal fitting on the end, but not the actual threaded part which screws on to the plate. I'll have to try and get a picture. And it is a very minor leak ie not enough to drop on to the floor I don't think, just to run down the hose a little, is a tiny bit to be expected when fitting new maybe?

[opticaltrigger 52]

Definatley not,there should be no leaks whatsoever.

It does sound from what you said that the swaged part is not sealed correctly.While this is not common,it does happen with enough frequency to be of note,and if you call pirtek they will come out and sort it for you with no problems.But please do pop a photo up to confirm.

 

It's worth remembering that if there is a minor leak no matter how small there is a potential for total failure resulting in instant and catastrophic engine failure given the right circumstances.

 

All the best

O.T.

Edited March 10, 2010 by opticaltrigger

[2052006 10]

Right, I've uploaded some photos. Hopefully they are of a good enough quality for you to see what I'm on about. I've taken both hoses and sandwich plate/filter off again this morning, refitted everything and tightened as best I can and still it's leaking.

 

The area of the fitting where the oil is leaking out is shown with the tip of the screw driver in some of the photos. It is where the threaded end of the hose (ie the bit that turns!) clamps down on to the end of the hose inside by screwing on to the sandwich plate. I'm not sure how else to describe it.

 

So it's not at the actual threads of the hose/plate where it's leaking.

 

Any suggestions before I take it all off (for the third time) and take the hoses back to Pirtek?

 

My only thought is maybe I'm tightening them too much? Because on the cooler end of the hoses, I'm just "nipping" them up, to prevent the threads on the cooler snapping off, and they seem to be fine - no leaks at all.

[welshpug 1,666]

Are there o-rings present on the hose ends where they fit into the fitting on the oil cooler?

[2052006 10]

O-rings??! No. I'm pretty sure there aren't any there. Where exactly do you mean? On the threaded part which turns, or further up, "inside" the hose?

[2052006 10]

Right, went back to Pirtek yesterday. There are not meant to be any rubber o-rings in these fittings.

 

They did however say that the problem would be these things (see photo). The ones that came with the mocal plate appeared to have a slightly shallower cone inside than Pirtek's own. So on their advice I bought a couple of their's in order that hopefully they'd definitely fit and make a good seal on the Pirtek hose ends.

 

Replaced today, but they're STILL leaking, as before. They also put a whole new hose end fitting on one of the hoses when I was there so I can't see it's a fault with a particular fitting (unless they are just generally crap), but haven't heard this before.

 

Anyone else had problems with these fittings before?

 

And are there alternative fittings I could use. This is doing my head in.

[large 33]

I have worked on hydraulic presses for over ten years and used pirtek alot. If they have made a pipe to mate to a fitting and it leaks it is down to them. you should not have had to pay for the right fittings they should have sized them up properly in the first place. We uesed to get problems like this from time to time when you had a new guy on the van.

 

Try putting ptfe tape around the top of the fitting so it overlaps a little and fold it into the fitting so the cone of the pipe fits onto the tape.

 

dubble check the fittings they have given you are are the right ones. You can get 2 types of fitting the cone ones and a more square type.

[2052006 10]

I wondered about doing that with some ptfe tape, but didn't know whether it'd be safe folding it in around the cone - don't want any tape to come off and enter the cooler/hoses etc?

[2052006 10]

Took the sandwich plate off again today and tightened the fittings as tight as possible again. On refitting, one of them appeared not to leaking, but the other was just as before . I'm going to have to try some ptfe tape.

 

Was thinking about just taking them back to Pirtek and asking for my money back. I'd have to get somewhere else to make some more hoses up for me though and called Merlin Motorsport who quoted very similar money, but from the sounds of it, the fittings will the same sort - so I may just end up with the same problem Not sure what to do for the best.

[large 33]

tbh that is the only problem you may get and is not an ideal solution. I would have another word with pirtek as to be honest there is not a lot of pressure in the pipes. and if you have there fitting and pipes it should not leak.