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Trying to avoid Le Milkshake situation, considering doing this one ahead of the presumptive, possibly optimistic 100K mark. At 68K already feels like I'm pushing my luck.
Trying to avoid the Le Milkshake situation, considering doing this one ahead of the presumptive, possibly optimistic 100K mark. At 68K already feels like I'm pushing my luck.
If you believe the oil cooler has a 100K mile life expectancy at 68K miles it is 2/3rds of its life expectancy miles. How close do you want to cut this?
My mention at just 68K miles on a 2006 (?) at 17 years it has averaged just 4K miles a year. You are looking at another approx. 8 years before the mileage reaches 100K.
Last but not least there is the saying "Don't fix it if it ain't broke." By replacing the original unit with a new one you run the risk the new one can suffer from infant death syndrome. This is common at least overall which is why new cars come with a new car warranty.
So an argument could be made to leave the original unit in service and just keep an eye on it.
I haven't ever suspected any physical failures with respect to the unit itself. Just gaskets/O-rings.
Had my leaking oil filter housing gasket replaced @72K at a local "reputable" BMW/MINI garage.
The thing still leaked. Took it back to the garage and the mechanic said "You asked me to put in a new oil filter housing gasket. You didn't mention anything about replacing the oil cooler O-rings" ...
I replaced the oil cooler O-rings myself in a apt complex parking lot. (oh joy!). Anyway if it makes any difference - Everything looked clean no "milkshake"...I am now @93K w/no leaks and no problems.
Most of the failures are Gasket and O-Ring related.
The housings themselves are usually not the issue.
(Didn't know if this could sway your plans or not)
Generally gaskets and o-rings don't fail catastrophically.
Spark plug tube o-rings failed in one of my car engines -- the o-rings just rotted away due to their location that had them pretty much in stale oil all the time (later engines had a much better design to address this) and all that happened was some oil mess that after new o-rings were installed and the cam covers cleaned with brake clean stayed pretty much spotless -- well, oil free -- thereafter.
So an argument could be made the OP run the gasket/o-rings until they start to show leak sign. Or install a new oil cooler and its hardware and gaskets/o-rings and hope these will *not* manifest premature failure. To be sure the odds are they won't.
Generally gaskets and o-rings don't fail catastrophically.
So an argument could be made the OP run the gasket/o-rings until they start to show leak sign. Or install a new oil cooler and its hardware and gaskets/o-rings and hope these will *not* manifest premature failure. To be sure the odds are they won't.
While this is correct, just keep a really good oil check schedule, if these O-Rings start to go, you will have little to no time to catch it and get them changed, because of these 2 scenarios...
- Coolant in the oil, horrible for bearings and other lubricated parts.
- Oil in the coolant, a real pain to flush completely.
That being said, mine didn't fail at all, before my rebuild at 213k, while others have failed before 100k, it's hard to know exactly when they may go.
While this is correct, just keep a really good oil check schedule, if these O-Rings start to go, you will have little to no time to catch it and get them changed, because of these 2 scenarios...
- Coolant in the oil, horrible for bearings and other lubricated parts.
- Oil in the coolant, a real pain to flush completely.
That being said, mine didn't fail at all, before my rebuild at 213k, while others have failed before 100k, it's hard to know exactly when they may go.
Was not aware of the risk of coolant in the oil and oil in the coolant. That changes things. In this case the o-rings/gasket should be renewed to avoid the risk of this severe a failure. The very very slight risk of premature failure of any new parts pales in comparison by the ever increasing risk the current gasket/o-rings will almost certainly fail at some point.
