Symptoms of Oil Cooler Adapter Gasket Failure in Cars

The oil cooler adapter gasket on any vehicle is an essential engine component designed to keep modern cars running smoothly.

The purpose of the engine oil cooler is to allow the engine’s cooling system to remove excess heat from the oil.

In most of the cars, engine oil is fed to the oil coolers from an adapter that is located between the engine block and the engine oil filter.

If the car is serviced regularly, including routine oil and filter changes, the oil cooler should last as long as the car's engine or other major mechanical parts.

However, there are certain occasions when the oil cooler begins to wear out and may ultimately fail. Here are the symptoms shown by the oil cooler when it fails.

Oil leaking from the oil cooler

One of the components that is part of the oil cooling system is the oil cooler adapter, which connects oil lines to the cooler itself and another adapter sends cooled oil back into the oil pan.

Inside the adapter there is a gasket or rubber o-ring and if the oil cooler adapter falls externally, engine oil may be forced out of the engine.

However, if the leakage is small, you will notice a puddle of engine oil on the ground beneath your car or possibly a stream of oil on the ground behind your car.

Engine coolant leaking from the oil cooler

Similar to the loss of oil, an external oil cooler gasket failure may force all the engine coolant out of the engine.

Whether the coolant leak is small or large, you will come across coolant puddling on the ground underneath your car.

If your car has a small leak, then you will notice coolant puddling on the ground and if the leak is a big one, you will notice steam pouring out from under the hood of your car.

Oil in the cooling system

If the oil cooler adapter fails internally, you may notice engine oil in your cooling system. This happens because when the engine is running, oil pressure is greater than cooling system pressure.

This eventually leads to a lack of lubrication and can severely damage the engine.

Coolant in the oil

When the engine is not running and the cooling system is pressurized, the coolant can be forced from the cooling system into the oil pan.

The high oil pan levels can damage the engine by the crankshaft slapping the oil as it rotates.

Conclusion

If you come across any of these symptoms, then it can be said that the oil cooler adapter gasket has malfunctioned.

You need to flush the engine and the coolant system to remove all the contaminants and also the oil cooler adapter gasket needs to be removed.

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