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I've had a couple of oil cooler seals fail, in my case, a catastrophic failure, oil everywhere, like the crankcase empties in less than a block . The inlet seal tore right across from inside to outside. Think they were bad material. Now, if you look at Bentley or even in a full gasket kit, you'll find there's three types of seals, for various vintages. One set has bigger holes, one set has smaller holes and one set has tapered holes. The small hole set is for early cases, the large hole set is for later cases and the tapered set is for adapting old coolers to new cases and new coolers to old cases. Bentley has the various combinations of spacer washers and seals laid out in it. Without seeing what you have for a cooler case combination, it's kind of tough to say what seals you need. If you took the old seal to the local parts place, they should be able fix you up with a match, those seals are the same between bug and T3. The suggestion the other lister made about cleaning off the cooler and then filling it with solvent to check for leaks is a good one, I just wouldn't use gasoline. Paint thinner or naptha is much safer as well as being less toxic. They're putting lots of nasty stuff in the motor fuel these days as well as it being a fire hazard. I also had a oil pressure switch go leaky on me when I first got the SB, just a slow leak, but it could be seen while running. The center part could be rotated in the outer shell. Just something else to check and maybe replace. On Fri, 8 Jan 1999 14:52:13 -0800, you wrote: >>Hi Volks- >> >>I am trying to fix an oil cooler leak and have a few questions. I went to >>the FLAPS and got oil cooler seals (part number 311 117 151 A). After doing >>the engine-in-car tin removal and taking off the oil cooler, I am now kinda >>stumped. >> >>First of all, the existing seals are much flatter and thinner than the new >>ones I picked up. I realize this could be from the natural compression of >>having been squished between the oil cooler and the engine casing, but I >>just wanted confirm if it's normal for the new ones to be about 2X the >>thickness (height) of old ones and like 1/3 thinner in diameter. No sense >>replacing the seals if they're the wrong ones! >> >>Secondly, the existing seals were not visibly torn or damaged. Because the >>bottom half of the oil cooler is oily and dirty (I assume from dirt being >>blown by and sticking to oily surfaces) I am now wondering if perhaps it's >>not the seals but the cooler itself that has a leak (!?). Does anyone know >>how to tell if it's your oil cooler leaking and not the seals? Or is the >>oil cooler being all oily and dirty enough reason to assume it is the >>culprit? Oil was slowly leaking out near the centermost 10mm nut (one of 3 >>holding down the cooler) so I assumed it was the seals. Does a slow leak >>(as opposed to a gush) also lead to a Bad Oil Cooler diagnosis? >> >>TIA for any advise. >> >>Cheers, >> >>Dave Y. >> >>PS. This is my first time doing my own oil cooler work (after 30 years of >>ownership) so it's kindof exciting actually doing it after reading Muir for >>years and hearing it was so easy. Hopefully, I didn't get in over my >>head..... :) >> > > >I would try filling your cooler with gas.. ( as long as the car can be down >for a couple of days to allow the cooler to dry out. Not only then will you >be able to clean the cooler but also see if it leaks. > >Take a funnel and fill one of the holes till gas comes out the other side. > >Worth a try >James > >------------------------------------------------------------------- >List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list or mailto:help@vwtype3.org