The Nissan Path

Happy New Year folks!

not the way I wanted to start the New Year off..but was checking the wife's PF this evening and noticed some oil on the skid plates. After taking every thing off, it looks like the oil dripped from the area either where the oil filter seats onto the cooler or behind the cooler. I loosened up the oil filter up a bit; it was pretty snug, wiped it all down and ran the engine for about ten minutes. It dripped a few drops, but I cant tell exactly where from. I think from behind the cooler. Nothing is dripping down from the main engine block area..

any ideas on this? are these coolers known to leak and are they hard to replace if needed? I couldnt really get behind to see as I could only use the garage lights and a flashlight. My PF is a 2006 / V6 / auto / 2wd. It has 109k.

Thanks

Googled this problem; looks like it is an o ring seal where oil cooler bolts to block..looks like about an $8 part..hope that will fix it

dawgn86 wrote:Googled this problem; looks like it is an o ring seal where oil cooler bolts to block..looks like about an $8 part..hope that will fix it

that seems to be the only fairly common leak in that area
is that what it turned out to be?

Eieio

Bought the o ring and gasket for it Friday at my Nissan dealer for $12.00.

Going to get on it early this afternoon.

Looks like it's not too bad of a job:

take off oil filter and let what oil you can drain out. Unscrew the 22mm bolt which hold it to the block. Pull it back some, leaving the cooler lines attached, replace the gasket and the o ring on the bolt. Torque it to 36lbs, put oil filter back on and keep fingers crossed.

well..looks like it was the oil cooler gasket. Took my skid plates off, removed the oil filter and bolt holding the cooler on. Plenty of slack in the lines to move around, get the old gasket out and replace it. Mine only had the one gasket. Replaced everything, warmed up the engine and drove it around a bit...so far, no leaks!

Those cooler "O" rings started being an issue on the R50 Pathfinders with the 3.5L. THere are three different sizes depending on the year and model of Nissan and they are now available on the aftermarket by Dorman products (if a Nissan dealer isn't nearby). On the plus side and as mentioned, it's not that bad of a job to replace them.

throwing in one more comment...this leak didnt start until I switched to Mobile 1 5w-30 full synthetic...I have always used dino 10w-30

think there could be a relation to this?

Impossible to say; it might be coincidental.

With a high mileage motor using fully synthetic oil will start to clean out all the gunk and could cause leaks from gaskets. i would recommend a sythentic blend if it has always had regular oil.

Good point 05

I will look around at my next oil change and see what is out there as far as synthetic blends.