This is always what I have heard, but it has yet to make sense. Why, if sludge
is building in the thing for 30 years, will it decide to let go when installed
on a new engine. I know Lucas is that vindictive, but I didn't think the oil
system was. I see two probable scenarios here.
1. Sludge had been circulating in the old engine all along and therefore some
of it was in the oil cooler when the car was dissasembled. In this case the
sludge would circulate, but you should be able to see the sludge when you pull
the pan off the old motor (or when you do an oil change).
2. The sludge is trapped in the oil cooler, and therefore not circulating
through the old motor. Providing that the cooler wasn't impeding the flow of
the oil, this one should be functionally fine. The oil cooler probably won't
accomplish much as a cooler, but that isn't the point. In this case, where the
sludge is anchored into the cooler, I don't see why puting the thing on a new
engine is going to magically make all the sludge come loose and start
circulating through the engine when it wasn't doing so connected to the old
engine.
Worst case, the stuff makes one pass through the car and gets into the filter,
but from my experience sludge sits in the bottom of the oil pan and leaves
everybody alone. This is not to say that I don't think the oil cooler should
be cleaned, because I think it is a good idea if it is suspenct. What this
sounds like to me in one of those urban legends that started out with "You'll
never believe what happened to my brother/dad/roommate/friend the other day..."
It just doesn't make any sense that some stationary gunk will decide to move,
just because the cooler is installed in a new engine, and if it was circulating
to begin with, then you ought to know it when you take the old engine apart and
take the appropriate action.
--
James Nazarian Jr
71 MGB roadster
71 MGBGT - with V8 parts
01 Impreza 2.5RS
A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have
evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine.
On Wed, Apr 11, 2001 at 08:29:29PM -0600, Andrew B. Lundgren profoundly
declared:
> I have heard tell that sludge builds up in them. If you re-use one
> then you will just pump that sludge into your engine. A neighbor of
> mine works at a repair shop. He hooked his up to the degreeser at work
> and let the chemicals flow through it for a few days and then slapped
> it on. His seems no worse for it, but the cleaning does seem advised
> it if you are gonna re-use.
>
> On Wed, 11 Apr 2001 20:45:48 -0500, S & M Barnes wrote:
>
> >I have 2 of each of everything I listed so hopefully some of those will be
> >fine. One further question, why toss the oil cooler? One of them is fitted
> >to the car and that didn't leak a year ago when I last ran the engine, do
> >you just feel it isn't necessary?
> --
> Andrew Lundgren
> lundgren@byu.net
> http://www.itwest.net/~lundgren
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