?: should I get my oil cooler replaced?

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greyhoundrick
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Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:26 pm

?: should I get my oil cooler replaced?

Postby greyhoundrick » Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:16 pm

Hello everyone,

Thanks in advance for your input.

Im no car expert by any stretch and was wondering if you could give me some advice...

I have a 2004 Pathfinder LE Platinum with 120,000 miles. I plan on keeping it for another 18 months and then Im going to get something else. I have it in the shop now and Im told that it needs a new oil cooler and the price I was quoted is $690 + $147 labor = $837

Im not sure what the consequences would be if I don't get this done. As I said, I know very little about cars, but I can tell you that my oil usage is about 1.5 quarts every 5000 miles and my engine temp is usually a tick below the halfway point on the gauge. I haven't seen it move from that point once the motor is at normal operating temperature.

Thank you for any help you can give me. $837 is a lot of money to us right now, but if its mandatory that I get this done I will. Im hoping I can get lucky and maybe not have to do this.

Best to you all and take care,

Rick


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smj999smj
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Location: Prospect, VA

Postby smj999smj » Wed Feb 19, 2020 2:49 am

I have seen one or two oil coolers fail, but 99.9% of the time it's not the oil cooler, itself, but the seal behind it, that fails. If it happens to be the seal, it's an easy and inexpensive repair. If done with an oil change, it should cost another $5 in parts (for the seal) and an extra 1/2 hours of labor.
Now, if it is actually the cooler, it can leak externally of fail internally, allowing cross-contamination of engine oil and coolant. The labor to replace the cooler is about an hour to 1.5 hours. The part, itself, which comes with the seal, is $451 from NissanPartsDeal.com (Nissan list is $583). Since you have to remove the oil filter to install it, I would recommend you also have the cooler replacement, if actually needed, during an oil and filter change.

greyhoundrick
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:26 pm

Postby greyhoundrick » Wed Feb 19, 2020 5:13 pm

smj999smj wrote:I have seen one or two oil coolers fail, but 99.9% of the time it's not the oil cooler, itself, but the seal behind it, that fails. If it happens to be the seal, it's an easy and inexpensive repair. If done with an oil change, it should cost another $5 in parts (for the seal) and an extra 1/2 hours of labor.
Now, if it is actually the cooler, it can leak externally of fail internally, allowing cross-contamination of engine oil and coolant. The labor to replace the cooler is about an hour to 1.5 hours. The part, itself, which comes with the seal, is $451 from NissanPartsDeal.com (Nissan list is $583). Since you have to remove the oil filter to install it, I would recommend you also have the cooler replacement, if actually needed, during an oil and filter change.
Thank you so much for the excellent information! I appreciate it and it has helped me tremendously! :)

krieg17
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:44 pm

Oil Cooler

Postby krieg17 » Fri Feb 21, 2020 7:15 pm

Rapey Firestone wanted about 750 with tax to replace mine....Me and my dad bought the rubber seal for it for like $10 and fixed it in an hour. But that was only after heavily researching that it probably would do it, and that it was a doable task. Oil doesn't even leak out when you take it off....well not much, so no flush and refill of oil either.

I can't stand the auto shops do this kind of practice on the regs. Sickening.


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