Re: Oil Cooler Structural Failure
Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 5:27 pm
I also have had an oil cooler failure last spring right after I converted to a top mounted oil cooler. It occurred during initial run-up and leak test. Initially I thought it was high Oil pressure because of the 90 psi reading on my MGL Stratomaster.
On examination of the failed oil cooler it was discovered that there was a poor weld between the corrugated fins and the chamber containing the oil.
After replacing the top mounted oil cooler and before starting the engine again I bought a direct reading test gage from Harbor freight with a long hose. After engine start it read in the normal 50 psi range. So I did some more research and found out that the MGL stratomaster defaulted to Rotax settings (probably should have done that earlier). Rotax uses a 200 PSI VDO gage. So I simply had to set the correct scaling factor in the Stratomaster. Once completed, the readings matched that of the test gauge. There have not been any oil system issues since then.
I hope that this may help.
On examination of the failed oil cooler it was discovered that there was a poor weld between the corrugated fins and the chamber containing the oil.
After replacing the top mounted oil cooler and before starting the engine again I bought a direct reading test gage from Harbor freight with a long hose. After engine start it read in the normal 50 psi range. So I did some more research and found out that the MGL stratomaster defaulted to Rotax settings (probably should have done that earlier). Rotax uses a 200 PSI VDO gage. So I simply had to set the correct scaling factor in the Stratomaster. Once completed, the readings matched that of the test gauge. There have not been any oil system issues since then.
I hope that this may help.