EMERGENCY need advice

[BLUNT]

went out to change my oil tonight to get the car ready to go. s14 with amzoil remote oil filter and earls 8x8 oil cooler. braided black nylon hoses. i dumped 15/50 mobil1 into it, put an amzoil filter on it (pre filled the filter) and started the car. no oil pressure for 3 seconds then POP and oil all over my garage floor. as soon as i hear the pop i shut it down . i pulled the grilles and looked at the cooler and its all deformed from excess pressure. wtf?? i know its the cooler thats blown from its appearance. what would cause a spike in oil pressure that severe. the car was at idle. remember i have 650 miles on this thing and it ran flawlessly. all i did was drain the oil and refill with a new filter. any ideas? i need to either get a new cooler in 1 day which is unlikely but i need to find out what caused this. i imagine i could loop the cooler lines and bypass it but something must be wrong. pressure relief valve stuck or something?

[Harv]

I'm speechless.

Is there a thermostat for the oil cooler in the S14 oil housing?

John

[BLUNT]

yes there is. but that is closed until the car warms up. the car had been sitting 3 hours when i changed the oil so oil pressure should even build there i would think

[visionaut]

Steve - First off, sorry top hear this happened, knowing you're planning to be on the road soon...

What was the brand/weight of the oil you were running for the first 650 miles? 15/50 sounds kinda heavy, at least to me, for an synthetic. I can get high oil pressure in my M10 on start-up, running dino 20W50 (Valvoline VH1) - until things warm up. I've heard of folks bursting the oil filter due to high cold-start oil pressure - but this is first I've heard of an oil cooler blowing. My guess is there's some cooler outlet constriction - either by design, like a Tstat or by accident somehow (or maybe a constriction in your oil-filter adapter inlet from the cooler.)

Perhaps you can remove the oil filter adapter and bypass the cooler set-up, and just install a regular oil filter to 'make do' for the trip?

Sorry this isn't more helpful...

Tom

[Mars]

WTF indeed.

I'm not too familiar with the oil cooler you are using on your car but you already know that different coolers come with different pressure ratings. Some are equipped with an integral thermostatic oil control valve (ie; oil coolers which have a screw of some sort directly into them) and some have ports that are clearly labeled “IN” and “OUT”, indicating the direction that oil must flow through the cooler.

If these lines were mixed up on this type of oil cooler that would definitely cause it to burst immediately upon engine start-up. But, you mentioned the car was running for 600+ miles this way.

The only other thing I can think of would be some sort of debris in the lines which caused a pressure backup and 'pop'?

This is a good one. Have to give it some more thought...

[BLUNT]

Steve - First off, sorry top hear this happened, knowing you're planning to be on the road soon...

What was the brand/weight of the oil you were running for the first 650 miles? 15/50 sounds kinda heavy, at least to me, for an synthetic. I can get high oil pressure in my M10 on start-up, running dino 20W50 (Valvoline VH1) - until things warm up. I've heard of folks bursting the oil filter due to high cold-start oil pressure - but this is first I've heard of an oil cooler blowing. My guess is there's some cooler outlet constriction - either by design, like a Tstat or by accident somehow (or maybe a constriction in your oil-filter adapter inlet from the cooler.)

Perhaps you can remove the oil filter adapter and bypass the cooler set-up, and just install a regular oil filter to 'make do' for the trip?

Sorry this isn't more helpful...

Tom

thanks tom, i just got off the phone with jan and since the only thing thats new to the equation is the amzoil filter im going to start there. i may have enough fittings to put a line together to bypass the cooler. im going to stick a bmw filter on there and try to bypass the cooler. ill update later. if anyone else has any ideas id love to hear them

ps i was runninf 10/40 dino oil for the first 650 miles.

[Guest Anonymous]

went out to change my oil tonight to get the car ready to go. s14 with amzoil remote oil filter and earls 8x8 oil cooler. braided black nylon hoses. i dumped 15/50 mobil1 into it, put an amzoil filter on it (pre filled the filter) and started the car. no oil pressure for 3 seconds then POP and oil all over my garage floor. as soon as i hear the pop i shut it down i imagine i could loop the cooler lines and bypass it but something must be wrong. pressure relief valve stuck or something?

I am not personally familiar with the s14. I have seen a few blown oil filters and coolers. I think your first instinct is a good one. Pressure relief valves on the oil pump and even on the bloody filters and filter assemblies is what comes to mind. Given the care you have taken in piecing your machine together it seems only a distant possibility. This past Saturday I spoke with someone who just finished putting together a 427 sohc ford side oiler and guess what, he was cursing the same lake of oil all over his garage floor. His cryptic message today was something to do with a faulty pressure relief valve. My point, you are not alone!

Is it possible that something in your system other than the pressure relief created partially obscured the oil flow creating a huge pressure backup? I am sorry but too many beers after work so this is the best I can do for now.

[peteinjp]

Man- thats a bummer for sure! All i can imagine is the pressure relief valve. Where is the sender? In the housing? What could keep pressure out of the sender while sending it to the cooler? Did you use the amsiol filter before as well?

[peteinjp]

But- if it was the relief valve wouldn't you see pressure at the sender?

[peteinjp]

Blunt- can you lay out the details on your setup. Where is the pressure sensor? on the original housing or remote?

[Grover]

This is a total stab in the dark, so take it with a box (not a grain) of salt, but here goes: Are you confident that all the "old" oil drained adequately? Any chance that more than an average amount was left in the motor/cooler and some how you ended up with an extra quart or two of oil in there? Seems like this would lead to high vs. low pressure, but thought I'd throw it out there. Regardless, good luck, and keep us posted on what you learn.

[BLUNT]

ok heres the latest. i tore the cooler out and looped the cooler line in effect bypassing the cooler. i put a new non amzoil filter on it and started it. i got oil pressure at the gauge of about 90psi which has been normal when cold. i went under the hood and held the throttle at about 2k and i heard it blow the filter off the car so i ran in and shut it down. since i was under the hood its possible it built who knows how much oil pressure until it blew the filter out. the filter is visibly distorted and when it dumped the oil it almost looks like a blown head gasket but its just heavily aerated oil. because when i drain the crankcase its normal looking oil. im leaning towards the pressure relief valve in the oil pump but how does one know? at any rate it isnt going to make vintage at the vineyard any way i can see. im very depressed

[BLUNT]

Blunt- can you lay out the details on your setup. Where is the pressure sensor? on the original housing or remote?

pressure sensor is in the stock oil filter housing. off that i have the remote amzoil filter. stock oil cooler fitting locations of course using earls adapters to the cooler. i dont understand the workings of the pressure relief valve. could draining the oil cause it to stick? wtf? god im pissed

[peteinjp]

Are you getting oil in the head?

[KFunk]

any chance you can drop the oil pan tomorrow and investigate the pressure relief valve and un-jam it, grease it up good, and carefully put it back in?

I've read about them jamming on M10 oil pumps, which are probably a similar set-up... and it seems like it might've been due to to jamming the lil piston up inside without much lubrication while putting a pan on after a rebuild. But if yours survived 600 miles or so, i figure it oughta be lubed up and operating smooth by now. But who knows... a circulating random piece of debris may have finally found its way in there, after the oil and stuff was drained out, then jammed it...

i'm just wildly speculating.

sucks, man...