430 forgotten Oil/Water exchanger ( ENGINE OIL THIS TIME!)

so we all know that gearbox oil and coolant has an heat exchanger, that, sometimes fails.

for 430, right under the gearbox/water exchanger, there's a forgtten one: ENGINE OIL / COOLANT exchanger.

I suspect the 430 has not been aged enough to have this thing failed.

but once it does, it will be catastrophic for the engine, don't you think?

you guys ever thought about it??????????

 

It's a modern, well-made unit. The design has been used in oil/water exchange units on various cars for years now - they don't really fail.

 

Looking at the pic of the oil cooler, it looks like a plate heat exchanger. Used a lot on ships as much smaller than the tube type for the same cooling effect. Never known one to fail in 30 years , but they can foul up the space between the plates. It should have 4 connections, oil in and out and cooling water in and out.
You can rig a pump up to these and pump a cleaning fluid through It, like gunk on the oil side and radiator cleaner on the water side. You need a decent size pump to get the agitation between the plates

 

the gearbox heat exchanger just failed on my buddy's 430

it is also a plate heat exchanger


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Thats a better picture, what actually failed on it ?
Those type you cannot Strip the plates

Now this is a good plate heat exchanger- some have titanium plates
Basic

 

i dont know what failed, but coolant got into the gearbox. Replaced this, all good

 

I'm going to hazard a guess that the root cause was a lack of maintenance (coolant changes).

 

No these things fail when one of the plates gets a pin hole in it- it is a sandwich of plates with a washboard pattern in the plates. The oil might go between plate 1+2 and 3+4 and 5+6, then the coolant goes between 2+3and 4+5. etc.
They can use a much smaller cooler compared to a tube cooler as it has a much greater heat exchange efficiency.
To make it work they have to pump the fluids through at high pressure to overcome the small gaps in the plates, this causes a turbulent fluid flow ( Reynolds number above 2500 if i remember my study of years ago) and greater heat exchange. The turbulent flow can cause cavitation damage to the plates, cheap plates are stainless and marine ones are generally titanium, which resists cavitation a lot more.
Marine coolers can be pulled apart and the plates cleaned with a jet washer and re assembled.

 

my concern is that , if a plate type gearbox oil/coolant exchanger does fail, engine oil/coolant exchanger could fail , too. although not a general occurrence.
But if it does, engine could be oiled by coolants, so I am trying to raise awareness and see if you have a solution/preventive measure to deal with it.

 

my concern is that , if a plate type gearbox oil/coolant exchanger does fail, engine oil/coolant exchanger could fail , too. although not a general occurrence.
But if it does, engine could be oiled by coolants, so I am trying to raise awareness and see if you have a solution/preventive measure to deal with it.

 

my concern is that , if a plate type gearbox oil/coolant exchanger does fail, engine oil/coolant exchanger could fail , too. although not a general occurrence.
But if it does, engine could be oiled by coolants, so I am trying to raise awareness and see if you have a solution/preventive measure to deal with it.

 

Those things are so reliable it's a question of how far do you go? The same applies to alternators, coolant hoses, pulleys, etc. etc.

It would be useful for others to list the age, mileage, and coolant change history.

 

You cannot take them to bits, so they either leak or they dont. They will tolerate raw water but cavitation takes its toll

 

Mine has just failed causing coolant leakage into oil sump disaireator. Repairs are in planning stage now as the parts are being assembled. I’ve owned the car 2 years but don’t have maintenance history on coolant flushes prior to the time of purchase. Yes they do fail. I called all the large dealers in US and they all had seen it a few times before. Never related to head gasket or water/oil pump. Change your coolant.


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ah ha! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR this headsup!

 

How did they test for it?

 

Inspected water pump- no leaks. Deductive reasoning based on statistical likelihood drives the diagnosis. It is going to be replaced. No way to test until part removed and all coolant and oil drained.

 

I would think if you remove oil lines and try shop air you can tell ?

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Understand all that. Am planning on all that pressurizing cooling system oil lines etc etc. that all requires disassembly. Not going to disassemble and leave in Indy shop while waiting on parts after disassembly and testing and diagnosing before ordering parts thus tieing up one of his bays with car disassembled and waiting on parts etc. If I’m wrong part is returnable. Statistical gamble but what else would it be. Research has shown that the heat exchanger is the usual suspect. I’ll follow up with pics testing steps etc as they unfold. Right now part is on backourder from my sources. Won’t know anything for awhile.