Hi Guys: Just found out I have a small drip starting around the oil cooler lines. Does anyone know a good supplier of Oil Coolers and lines in Canada? (Preferably under $700)?
Is the leak in the hose or the cooler itself? You can have the cooler rebuilt by a aeronautics company in California who do a certifiably good job. PM if you need the name. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I had the hoses redone by Alfagomma in canada for my QV. Regarding getting the hose off the cooler, they are different metals, but you can spray pentrating oil and then you should have hex on the cooler for a wrench to hold the cooler as you turn the line off. Sometime turning back and forth once it breaks free will help. Don't just gorilla it off and a few love taps may help. Heat also, but don't ignite the oil. Good luck
Thank you sir....I see they are in Quebec....how did you give them the specs for the hoses to make custom?
https://www.alfagomma.com/en/ It cost like $150 or less for both lines. Send them your lines they send em back in a week or so. I'm sure you know, but don't say Ferrari. They're on my kit car.
If you don’t already have one get a heat gun. They help me loosen almost anything. I made lines out of an fittings.
Ha! When I brought mine hoses into my local shop (Tri Valley Hose, Livermore CA), the first thing they said was, "those are from a Ferrari." So much for faking it. Still, they only charged me $80 for the pair. As already implied, the hose fittings are removable and reusable. All they replaced was the hose. Should you require a replacement oil cooler, note that the factory substitution has a completely different appearance. When I replaced my leaking oil cooler I bought a used one. The following thread details my tribulations: (Note that I only had my car for a few months so really didn't know much back then.) Is there a difference btwn silver & black 308 oil coolers?
I did the same thing from the same hose company... Just send them your hoses and have them redone and fitted to the original fittings... extremely responsible too $$$...
I've replaced a LOT of braided hoses. It's normally not difficult at all to do so unless these are constructed differently than standard AN hoses/fittings where the fittings can be removed from the hose. I've never actually looked closely at those hoses on my car. If they are the normal, removable connectors as opposed to crimped-on, it would be easy to buy a suitable length of hose, cut it to length and remove the connectors from the old hose/attach them to the new hose. Below is a link to explain the proper ways to cut braided hose. I have to admit that I often use the method that they say NEVER to use - a hacksaw! With a fine-tooth blade and light pressure it works fine - or, at least, always has for me! http://knowhow.napaonline.com/know-how-notes-how-to-cut-braided-hose/
Regarding the sound advice above regarding loosening the line, to guarantee equal and opposite torque on both wrenches so the flimsy cooler is not stressed get both wrenches close to one another. Then squeeze them together by only using your hands, not arms/shoulders, guaranteeing equal and opposite torques. This method also obviates bashed knuckles and cut fingers if the hose suddenly comes loose.
That is because they have done a ton of those hoses for me so they have learned what a Ferrari hose looks like. They do charge me about $75 a piece.
All very good advice until you meet a line that has been on the car for 35 years. Aluminum cooler with a steel oil line nut do not make good friends. And then your hands don't have enough muscle.
you need longer wrench handles! For those not familiar with seized/tight fittings, try tightening the fittings first. That requires less torque than loosening them and after that movement breaks the "seal," they will unscrew. Just the slightest movement in the tightening direction is sufficient. I have done this so much in the marine world that I almost automatically tighten a fitting before loosening it.
Here is the one I just did last week. The bottom line took two wrenches, 18 inches long each. The Counter hold one was placed on top of a jack stand, the loosening wrench fits inside a 3 foot long cheater pipe. Then the oil linenut came loose. The top oil line never came loose and there isn't any space to do anything at all with longer pipes or jack stand as counter hold. So the cooler came out of the car, put in a vise and now the 3 foot long pipe was used to loosen the nut and it bent the oil cooler. So, I CUT OFF the aluminum fitting from the oil cooler. Put the line in a vise, use a 4 foot long cheater pipe at the end of the huge pipe wrench on the aluminum fitting and it came off . The oil lines were saved, the oil cooler died. Yes, you need longer wrenches... 4-foot long.
Well, I admit that expecting to ever need a wrench with a 4 foot handle would be a bit much! Heating the fittings didn't help?
Back around 1994 the oil pan on my 328 began leaking. Re-gasketing necessitates dip stick removal. I was unable to loosen the nut that secures the dip stick to the lower nut that holds the assembly to the crankcase. The dipstick has a bend in it so the top nut must be loosened in order to remove the assembly. I had to cut the dipstick (after drawing a line on it for proper reorientation) with a pipe cutter so no filings would be created. Once removed the lower nut was put in a vise. It took a cheater bar 3 feet long with me swinging on its end to separate the nuts. I butt welded the dipstick back together and repainted the joint. Never encountered a nut that tight. By the way, I replaced my oil filter in the 90's but had no major trouble getting it disconnected from the lines. Guess I was lucky with the cooler.
A bit off topic but when I was a little kid (like 3 to 5) we lived in Cookstown and I remember going to Barrie for groceries at Loblaws and going to the beach. Wow, that was a long time ago but I've got pictures!
You also need thinner wrench heads! the fixed wrench fitting on the oil cooler is very thin - when the oil line is connected, there isn't enough clearance to get a wrench in on the oil cooler fitting. I had to grind a 30mm wrench to half thickness to get it in to hold that fitting from torquing when I loosened the line. The upper oil line connected to the oil cooler: Image Unavailable, Please Login The two wrenches I needed to loosen the oil hose (ground thinner wrench on the cooler flats) Image Unavailable, Please Login
I literally just went thru this exercise about 3 months ago. I tried *everything* to get the lines off the oil cooler. Heat. Tightening, then loosening. Penetrating oil (Kroil). More pentrating oil. More heat. I even bought a new thin wrench for the cooler side nut (thicker than my old "thin" wrench, but still narrow enough to not impede rotation. I had completely removed the cooler w/both hoses attached to it from the vehicle to try to get those hoses off...but couldn't do it. Finally I took the whole assembly to my Ferrari mechanic (very reputable shop here in the Bay Area). He also tried all of the above. Was even more patient. But neither of us could get it to budge w/o feeling like it was gonna just destroy the hex/cooler. So he simply replaced the hose while it was on the cooler. Basically left the connection to the oil cooler connected, loosened the capture nut on the hose side, replaced the hose, and re-tightened the capture nut. Obviously made sure to keep the other end of the connection clocked in the right orientation so it would fit back on the engine side. Of course, it would have been nicer to get it off the cooler and send it out to get a new set made--but definitely not at the cost of destroying the oil cooler.
