 There are many different shapes and sizes of oil coolers being used in today's engines. Most of these are unique to the application and OE manufacturer design. Common among all coolers are the extremely small oil passages that make up the "bundle" or "element" "housed in the interior of the cooler. The cooling surface is maximized by keeping the individual tube's diameter as small as possible.
This design makes it necessary to replace the oil cooler bundle or element after bearing failures, cylinder wall scoring or any other type of catastrophic engine failure that produces debris inside the engine. Remains from a failure become trapped inside the oil cooler and cannot be removed by degreasing or flushing the cooler. Trapped particles are likely to reenter the remanufactured engine's lubricating oil supply causing a repeated failure.
New oil cooler bundles are available from various OE and aftermarket sources. Remanufactured elements that have been completely dismantled and reassembled are now also available. This is similar to a remanufactured radiator assembly process. AERA is aware of at least one remanufacturing facility of these oil cooler elements.
----- The AERA Technical Committee |
