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Further dislike for O rings

NickD on Wed October 29, 2003 12:00 AM User is offline

Year: 1193
Make: Olds
Model: Bravada
Engine Size: 4.3 L
Refrigerant Type: R-12!!!!!!
Ambient Temp: Varies
Pressure Low: Varies
Pressure High: Varies

Son comes home last night smoking and dripping oil into the driveway. After it cools and the smoke blows away the entire underbody was coated with oil it didn't take any black light and dies to find the oil was leaking from the oil filter adapter. This thing has those plate counter bore with grooves for O rings, just like on the rear of an AC compressor. The O rings sit against a flat surface so if the O ring goes, so does the oil, and lots of it. The idea of the adapter is to remotely mount the oil filter up by the radiator with two more hoses feeing engine oil into the radiator for reasons unknown to me. Is that hot coolant suppose to warm the engine oil, or is the radiator suppose to cool the oil, I haven't figured that out yet.

In the system there is a total of seven O rings, most could be broken by bending them, just a couple had any degree of pliability left. A large 2" diameter O ring had a crack in it, that was the major leak. We already replaced all the O rings use for a cheap valve seal, rubber just does not last in an engine or an AC system for that matter. Worse yet is rubber in compressor hubs and in damper pulleys.

So why do they use it?

They must like to hear me cuss.

It appeared at first the front differential had to be dropped to gain access to that adapter, but by some miracle, we worked around that.

k5guy on Thu October 30, 2003 11:25 AM User is offline

Sorry to hear about your problem with the car. However, as much as you dislike O-rings, I dislike hose clamps even more.


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NickD on Thu October 30, 2003 12:24 PM User is offline

What I dislike about hose clamps is first, the total lack of them, they just slip a hose on and expect it to stay, the second is, they keep on changing the style so you have to buy a new pair of hose clamp pliers. With all the plastic used, you have to stick with the spring types, and those common SS steel screw types can break that plastic nipple due to the thermal expansion of plastic. And replacement spring types are not that easy to find.

The last thing is when you get a vehicle that never was worked on before is the position the clamps are put on before the vehicle was assembled, ha, not bad to work on, if the engine was not in the vehicle, and that is a struggle to rotate the clamps so you can put your pliers on them.

I am getting quite a collection of spring hose clamp pliers, using conventional pliers and slipping results in an ouch and and few cuss words.

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