Oil Cooler Leaking oil

Joined
Oct 5, 2015
Messages
21
Location
Escondido, CA.
Bike
2006 ST1300
STOC #
8880
Hi all,
Anyone have their oil cooler fail? I think mine is leaking oil. Started dripping oil, leaving a puddle. I thought it was the filter, so I changed oil and filter, but still dripping. seems to be leaking from the seam on the oil cooler close to the filter end, not the o-ring end from what I can see.
 
Joined
Sep 4, 2013
Messages
8,115
Location
Cleveland
Bike
2010 ST1300
I didn't even know there was an oil cooler on this bike. When all else fails, read the instructions, so I hit the manual. There is an O-ring that fits in a groove on the back (bike) side of the cooler. Perhaps that failed? Maybe spray the area with gunk, rinse with water, dry what you can and dust it with talcum powder. Take the bike for a short spin and look for oil seepage. This is going to be a bit awkward - everything is under the bike and behind tupperware.

In order to replace this O-ring, you will need to drain the coolant from the engine, drain the oil, remove the oil filter, remove the oil cooler bolt and then the cooler assembly, and finally, the oil cooler hoses from the oil cooler.

When you replace the cooler, note that there is a tab that gets aligned with a boss on the crankcase, and the lock washer goes on with the punch mark facing the oil cooler.
 
Joined
Jan 8, 2011
Messages
7,065
Location
Arizona
Bike
2007 Honda ST1300A
You may not need to drain all the oil out, simply place a small pan under the filter and remove it, you will only loose a little bit of oil, as most of the oil is in the engine below the oil filter level.
What oil filter are you using? There was a issue with the Bosch 3300 filters for a while, as well as some other aftermarket filters produced by champion labs, you may want to see if it was a defective filter unit.
Did you check to make sure you didn't leave an old oil filter o-ring on the surface from the last oil filter change? This is pretty common. Also, since the FSM states (incorrectly) that you should use a torque wrench and tighten the filters down to 20 foot pounds :eek: a lot of folks have a difficult time removing the old filter, if this was the case, perhaps the threaded assembly that the filter screws onto was worked loose. I agree with cleaning the area, and spraying some foot powder on the surface and watching for leaks.
Replacing the Oil cooler o-ring is pretty simple and straight forward.
If I had to guess, without having eyes on it, I would suspect the oil filter first, the double o-ring failure second, and then replace the oil cooler o-ring last.
Let us know what you find.
 
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