The Boating Forum - Oil Cooler Leaking

I pulled the oil/power steering cooler and found that it is leaking from the seam. The water is clear and the cooler seems to work fine except for the small leak. Does anyone know if it is ok to try and re-weld this seam. If there are any gaskets inside they will probably be melted.

Where do you figure you will be when the rest of the weld lets go??????
If you do repair it at least do a pressure test to see how solid it is.

Probably not welded,the one I repaired on my mercruiser was soldered copper.The seam leaked from freeze damage.I did it myself,but any radiator repair shop could probably do it fairly cheap.Not a whole lot to it.The unit doesn't see much water pressure and the oil portion is separate.

I got it all sanded down and ready for soldering, didn't know it was copper until I got the paint off. I plan on only re-soldering 1/2 way around, do you think this will leave a cold joint somewhere?

Maybe I should sand it down to the metal all the way around and apply new solder to the whole thing. It took about 4 hours to get the dang thing off and I dont wanna do it again!

Hey Muskamoot. How did your repair work out? It's now sanded down all the way around.

Was a regular propane torch able to get it hot enough or do I need something hotter than that?

Hey Muskamoot. How did your repair work out? It's now sanded down all the way around.

Was a regular propane torch able to get it hot enough or do I need something hotter than that?

The propane was hot enough.I took the end cap all the way off,cleaned and sanded the area to be resoldered and used acid flux with old school 50/50 solder.Like I said,there isn't much water pressure and the repair is still leak free after 3 years.

The propane was hot enough.I took the end cap all the way off,cleaned and sanded the area to be resoldered and used acid flux with old school 50/50 solder.Like I said,there isn't much water pressure and the repair is still leak free after 3 years.

I wish I would have read that before, but it is already back in the water with no leaks. I never even thought of removing the end cap completely. I will do that next time I get it back on shore for cleaning.

Thanks for all the help.

If it's not leaking I'd leave it alone.Mine had some bilge oil on the joint and was easier to take the cap off to get it clean. A cheap repair beats buying new!!