Oil Cooler Post Overhaul?

[Notatestpilot]

Hello!
Just received my overhauled oil cooler.
I will be reinstalling it back on my Lycoming O320.
I heard a few suggesting I flush it out with mineral spirit and or air?
Is that really necessary post overhaul?
Thanks.

 

[Dan Thomas]

Hello!
Just received my overhauled oil cooler.
I will be reinstalling it back on my Lycoming O320.
I heard a few suggesting I flush it out with mineral spirit and or air?
Is that really necessary post overhaul?
Thanks.

I would run a bit of solvent (varsol) through it and catch the stuff in a clean bucket. See if any debris comes out.

I sent out a hydraulic powerpack for overhaul. That's the thing that runs the gear retraction system on a lot of light airplanes. It has a pump and a reservoir and some pressure switches and relief valves in it. I took a look at the "overhauled" unit when it came back, and found a lot of glass bead in the reservoir. Pretty startling incompetence. Sent it back, since we didn't know if they had tested it with that stuff in it, which would soon ruin the pump and everything else.

 

[Gary Ward]

Hello!
Just received my overhauled oil cooler.
I will be reinstalling it back on my Lycoming O320.
I heard a few suggesting I flush it out with mineral spirit and or air?
Is that really necessary post overhaul?
Thanks.

You would expect it to be spotless and very clean inside, But how do you know for sure? So like suggested run some clean mineral spirits through it see if it comes out clear.

My bigger concern would be to purge the air out of it and make sure it is filled with fresh oil before start up.
I used a pressure tank to fill my cooler with fresh oil before first start up.

Before that I ran mineral spirits through it for hours to flush it of built up oil, varnish and dirt. I plumbed it into my parts washer with clean solvent in it and let circulate on it's own.
Picture of my pressure tank right before start up.

This is a crude hook up that I made up of what I had in my hangar. I pushed all the mineral spirits out until I had fresh oil flowing. Hooked the oil lines back up and fired the new engine up. I had oil pressure immediately.

I use it for all kinds of stuff. Usually keep gas or mineral spirits in it with spray wand/handle for cleaning stuff.

Parts washer used to flush the cooler.

 

[Magman]

Scary stuff. I was hanging an oh’d cylinder on an engine once and a clump

of sand fell out of one of the ports. Last time I dealt with those guys!


Another time received a Oh’d engine that had something in a cylinder

that would not allow rotation!

 

[jbrrapa]

I sent out a hydraulic powerpack for overhaul. That's the thing that runs the gear retraction system on a lot of light airplanes. It has a pump and a reservoir and some pressure switches and relief valves in it. I took a look at the "overhauled" unit when it came back, and found a lot of glass bead in the reservoir. Pretty startling incompetence. Sent it back, since we didn't know if they had tested it with that stuff in it, which would soon ruin the pump and everything else.

Was the powerpack "overhauled" by Cox. If so, beware.