Flushing Oil Coolers

[chippie51]

We're about to tackle the oil cooler for the Fiat G.46 and, conscious that it’s been sitting around for a few years, no doubt it will need a darn good flush through. There are no leaks or damage, but I’d like to ensure for obvious reasons that it’s thoroughly cleaned inside. Is there any fluid suitable for the job? What methods have other WIXER’s found to work best? I’m all ears!

Thanks,

G

[bdk]

I used lacquer thinner in my T-6 oil tank which seemed to do a great job. Took about 3 gallons though. I used one gallon at a time until it started to run pretty clear.

[A2C]

Call Aero Engines or Sun Air Parts, they know. If memory serves, steam clean, but that is my opinion only.

[skymstr02]

If you don't run the solvent thru under pressure to truely flush it, and reverse the process, and then have it xray'd after, you don't know if you don't know if you have any metal shavings stuck in there in a cranny ready to dislodge at your most in-opportune moment.
This is a task that is best sent out to a professional to be done properly.
Unless you purchased this cooler new, you don't have a history on this from the cradle, and there is no telling what is inside the core.

[Matt Gunsch]

Pacific Oil Coolers, not many places have warbird oil coolers ovrhauled on on the shelf. I got one for the A-26 the next day,
Nuff said

[Hal B]

Pacific Oil Coolers, not many places have warbird oil coolers ovrhauled on on the shelf. I got one for the A-26 the next day,
Nuff said

I'll second that: send it to them...

[chippie51]

We're UK based and would prefer to keep the task in house. This is the only cooler we have for the aeroplane and, being specific to type, we can’t afford it to go missing – we’d be screwed if that happened.

We can build a rig to flush the cooler, it’s just a case of identifying a good fluid to use. Avas?

G

[A2C]

Then call Pacific Oil Coolers, they can advise your maintenence officer on what authorized references they use for their work.

[Matt Gunsch]

We're UK based and would prefer to keep the task in house. This is the only cooler we have for the aeroplane and, being specific to type, we can’t afford it to go missing – we’d be screwed if that happened.

We can build a rig to flush the cooler, it’s just a case of identifying a good fluid to use. Avas?

G

read this and decide, to me there is no choice in the matter

http://www.oilcoolers.com/oil%20cooler% ... 0page1.htm

[Bill Greenwood]

It sounds like Matt has given you the best reason not to try to do it yourself. I know one UK pilot/owner, I think it was Stephen Grey, lost a fresh overhauled Merlin because of oil cooler contamination. No way I'd take a chance on that. As for shipping, I'd go UPS or FEDEX with insurance and signatures required, both ways. The other way would be to send it to a warbird personal friend in California, if you have one and have them hand deliver it to Pacific.

If you must do it in UK, perhaps there is a firm that does it for heavy trucks. But are they going to be as careful with rare item as Pacific?

[HJ]

We use Cambridge Radiators,used to be Anglia Radistors.

[IndyJen]

We've used Pacific Oil Coolers more than once, with perfectly satisfactory results. They are not cheap, but they seem to do a good job all right.

The spaces between tubes in a typical oil cooler are very small. Without a pressure bench like Pacific's, I'm not sure how you can be certain that you're getting the particles out of there.

It's true, we have just flushed with mineral spirits to clean out gunk, but we were only thinking of sludge in that instance. Whenever there has been metal in the oil screen, we haven't hesitated to send the cooler out. Gotta be sure that the metal is all gone from the cooler, or the new clean engine will just be re-contaminated in service, and what's the use of that? Without a high-pressure flush and backflush, you won't get particles out of there.

IndyJen
PV-2 "Hot Stuff"
American Military Heritage Foundation
www.amhf.org