I was on another forum (oh the horror) looking at something completely separate to oil coolers and their lines, then I happened upon a thread about a recall in the US.
As I have recently undertaken a radiator swap, I spent a little time checking the condition of the coolers and lines in my car and all seemed ok.
Do these systems fail often? I can imagine a line or cooler failure could be pretty catastrophic and wondered if prevention was better than cure.
Three key questions:
Do these fail often?
Should I replace them?
Is there a UK recall for these oil cooler systems?
The more I read about my Exige, the more I like it but the more it makes me wonder about the stress everything is under when it is being driven!
I think I was more relaxed when ignorant of all the technicalities
(also posted on seloc but I wasn’t sure where the best knowledge was )
no need to worry at all, I sadly just had a stone go into one of my coolers and I can guarantee you there is no way the lines will ever come undone!
I even got all the way back from Anglesey with a small hole in one of the coolers so not even that caused any catastrophic failure
It’s not that they come undone, it’s the crimp from the hose to the fitting. It does happen, and happens without warning, but not that often. Sadly there’s no way to know if they are about to go or are fine. So either leave alone or change for a better spec one.
Chances are though you will need to change both oil coolers as well, as the hose ends are steel and coolers are aluminium so corrode together.
It depends on how many cable ties the old ones have on!! Sometimes none, sometimes quite a few. Speak to Dave at Seriously Lotus, he has some much better hoses that you can push through with no ends on, then cut the hose to length and fit the ends. If you do go this route, don’t fit a clip to the pipe and don’t worry that they will blow off!! Have fitted loads of these and never had one fail that has been fitted properly.
If in doubt, take a 6 inch length of hose, fit an end, then try to pull it out again. We have pulled a +50kg bench across the workshop with one to prove a point in the past.
)