Coolant Leak

That's why they make metal ones. Hope that's what you replaced them with.

Sienile said:

That's why they make metal ones. Hope that's what you replaced them with.

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Sorry for the technical oversight Sienile, it seems that I had 2 browsers running as I was posting here and shopping for my little red rocket some parts.

How many miles does your van have? Curious to know how long these plastic parts last.

Mine just rolled 120k...

120k is about the mileage the oil coolers like to fail at. They have all metal versions of those too. Might want to get you one on order for when yours springs a leak, or do it before then.

Sienile said:

120k is about the mileage the oil coolers like to fail at. They have all metal versions of those too. Might want to get you one on order for when yours springs a leak, or do it before then.

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Thanks for the heads up!
I knew the oil cooler was plastic too, but didn't know it's failure was any kind of predictable.

O.G. said:

Thanks for the heads up!
I knew the oil cooler was plastic too, but didn't know it's failure was any kind of predictable.

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From what I have learned on this forum there seems to be two modes of failure for the oil cooler. First is a multiple answer, leaks caused by enthusiastic techs tightening the oil filter cap way too much or competent people tightening it correctly and the plastic just getting fatigued. Second is the seals getting old and brittle and start to leak. Third is the plastic just gets stresses from heat and pressure and begins to leak.

A member noted that he could not find any failure of the OEM cooler but it was leaking, hence the above notationHowever he did replace the oil cooler with one of the aluminum ones. I don’t think anyone wants to try the OEM cooler and just replace the seals, I know that if I pull mine off it will get replaced regardless of what is causing the leak.

Dorman also makes some aluminum cooling system parts.